New Hero of Truth
by Apprentice Witch
Summary: Bianca meets Iris, a powerful newly appointed gym leader. Inspired by Iris's dedication, Bianca decides to become a trainer herself. The threatening return of Unova's ancient creator pokemon distracts them from their journeys. AU, game/anime crossover, Iris/Bianca.
1. Goals

_Author's Notes_  
_This is Iris/Bianca... Even if it isn't immediately 'shippy'. Though it's an anime canon crossover, gen 5 characters (Iris, Bianca, etc.) are based on how I interpret their game counterparts rather than their anime counterparts. This story focuses more on the game characters, while the companion fanfic, "The New Hero of Ideals" will focus more on the anime characters. Readers of either are free to ignore the other, though._

**1**

**Goals**

"Mom, I'm home," Bianca called as she came in the door.

As Bianca took off her shoes by the door, her mother turned around from her seat and greeted her. "Oh, hello, Bianca. Something came for you in the mail."

Bianca saw the package on the counter and grinned. "Oh, yes! Thanks Mom, thank you!" she said. Before waiting for her mother to respond, she rushed upstairs to open it. Tearing open the box, she found the set of three unopened pokemon figures that she'd been waiting for. The pokemon fan club she was a part of sent a set of random figures each month. Which ones would she get this time? Bianca began to open them up and see.

First was pansage, the first of the trio of monkey pokemon that she'd gotten a figure of. Bianca poked it and smiled, this bright green pokemon was an interesting one. The region's newest gym leaders she'd heard about had all three between them. Pansage was her favorite, Bianca was sure. But she hadn't really gotten a good look at all three. Better to wait until she saw them all, or at least all of their figures before she decided.

Opening, the next box, Bianca saw it was the last of the three pokemon that Professor Juniper gave out to new trainers for her collection. Talking a good look at it, she laughed as she saw that tepig had flames coming from its nose. She took out the other two figures, and looked at all three of them side-by-side.

Looking at them, Bianca imagined she was a new trainer, going to Professor Juniper to ask for a new pokemon. Professor Juniper offered her all three, and which would she choose? Tepig looked cute and powerful, showing off its fire breathing abilities. But Oshawott's pout made her want to hug it and take it away. Then again, Snivy was just cool. Bianca daydreamed about battling with each of them for a few moments.

She stopped herself soon enough, feeling embarrassed, and began to put the three figures away. She'd spent much time as a child imagining being a trainer, which pokemon she might like to train from various regions, and then what her journey would be like. But now she was getting older, becoming a young woman. Such fantasies really didn't fit that role, did they?

Bianca looked back at the figures. "No way," she said, smiling to them. Even if it wasn't right to daydream so much, just a little bit wouldn't hurt. She looked at the new tepig figure once more, thinking of having that pokemon showing off its cute moves while they won their first battle. Then she turned to the last box.

What kind of pokemon would it be, Bianca wondered. She opened the box. Tugging at the plastic bubble protection, Bianca saw something sharp coming out. "Oh?" she said. What was revealed of the figure was a curved, weapon-looking thing. Bianca pulled down the rest of the plastic. "Oh." Bianca looked at the figure questioningly.

She wasn't really sure what this pokemon was supposed to be. It had the large horn on its head, and then two really big fangs sticking out from its mouth. Bianca looked at it a moment in thought. She had seen one before, not in person, but maybe on TV or in a book. She couldn't remember its name.

After rummaging around her room, Bianca pulled out the guide that had come with her original set of figures. So, this was an axew, she realized. The figure itself was apparently 'rare', not everyone would get one. Even knowing that, Bianca wasn't thrilled that this was her third pick this month. She might have preferred a zorua or something, another rare that she hadn't gotten.

Instead she'd gotten this. There was something about this pokemon that was just weird. Bianca stared at it a moment. It might be trying to be cute, she considered, but it wasn't really. Maybe it was the sharpness of it, though the horn and fangs both seemed pretty dull. Oh well, she though, it was rare, so maybe she could trade it.

But she didn't want to be made fun of for trading with the younger kids. She did have two friends her age that also loved pokemon, though. But Hilda had showed no interest in joining this pokemon fan club, and Cheren had outright said that those kind of 'clubs' didn't really teach anything about pokemon.

So Bianca would continue to enjoy this hobby on her own. She looked for a good place for the axew figure. Maybe the back of the display would do. Bianca arranged the figures quickly. The three starter pokemon were in front, Pansear now waved at her from the side. Axew peaked over Vanillite. It didn't look that good, but maybe she could fix it later. Bianca closed the cabinet door and went to start her homework.

* * *

"Don't worry, Axew," Iris assured her pokemon. "This is kind of like being in the gym. We don't have to seek pokemon out to battle, they'll come to us! We're just awesome battlers, so it's natural that trainers and pokemon will want a challenge."

"Axew," Axew said, nodding diligently. Standing with Iris on the path, it looked out into the long grass for a pokemon that might want to battle it. A wild patrat soon appeared.

"There we go!" Iris said.

"Ax, axew!" Axew found itself demanding a battle despite Iris's orders to wait for the other pokemon to challenge it.

The patrat picked up a single blade of grass, then looked away haughtily, turning its back to the both of them, apparently leaving.

"Ax-" Axew began.

"Hey! Just wait right there!" Iris stamped her foot. "Come on back! We really are good challengers, you know!" Iris insisted. The patrat was still scurrying away.

"Axew!" Axew ran toward the pokemon, ready to strike it.

"Stop." Iris was firm as she spoke. Axew stopped immediately, and looked behind itself warily. It was still a novice at battling, but had learned to listen to its trainer. "Don't think I don't know how you feel," Iris said. "But we really can't be bullies. You understand?"

Axew nodded. Iris was satisfied with just that, and smiled at her pokemon again. "Now, let's get going! You aren't getting a light training today!" she declared.

"Axew!" Axew shouted, eager to continue.

Iris and Axew meandered about in place. Iris eventually decided this wasn't working, and decided to walk around more. Looking up, she saw someone coming from the distance. "Alright!" Iris said. "Maybe it's a trainer!" Iris knew this young axew might not be up for a trainer battle, but was getting antsy from waiting around for a wild pokemon to get there. Trainers hanging around this area would likely be low level, Iris assumed.

She had assumed a little too much. As they got closer, Iris noted the girl approaching them had several bags, and no pokeballs from what she could tell. It seemed to be a girl a little older than her coming back from some shopping. Oh well. Iris had been about to turn away completely, when she saw the girl trip.

"Oh no," Bianca said as one of her bags tipped over and all the produce she'd bought for her mom spilled out. She walked around trying to collect it all. After she'd almost picked it all up, she saw the watermelon had rolled all the way over inside the grass. Bianca frowned. The pokemon there were pretty well-natured, but tended to get annoyed if you were into their grassy territory.

Well, it was just right there, nearby the edge, Bianca told herself. She put down her bags carefully, then quietly walked toward the edge of the grass. She took one step inside, then picked up the watermelon up. There was a little resistance. Bianca fell over, and then picked herself up, looking to the side. A patrat was holding her watermelon up. "Hey!" Bianca said. It did look cute there, holding up the fruit. But she still needed it. "That's mine!"

The patrat squeaked, and paid her no mind, running away with Bianca's fruit. "Hey!" Bianca shouted again. She ran toward it, trudging further into the grass, then got her feet tangled in the grass and tripped yet again. Oh no, Bianca thought to herself, feeling like crying. But luckily, there was the same patrat, still holding the watermelon. Bianca stood up and grabbed it away. "It's not nice to steal," she said.

The patrat now narrowed its eyes, and lowered its head. It got ready to tackle Bianca.

"Axew, scratch attack!"

Bianca looked to the side. An axew came charging in between her and the patrat. It scratched the wild pokemon. The patrat looked surprised, and scurried away.

"Axew!" Axew said threateningly.

"Enough!" Iris said firmly, seeing her pokemon was getting ready to give chase. As her pokemon obeyed, her expression lightened, and she nodded. "Good job Axew. Defending this pretty lady, you're even better than usual."

"Axew!" Axew said with a nod.

"Um..." Bianca began. "Um, thanks," she said.

"You're welcome! But you know, you really shouldn't go into tall grass like this without a pokemon out ready to help you," Iris said.

"I know," Bianca said. "I just wanted to get back my watermelon."

"Oh, I saw that," Iris said. "No big deal this time. It looks like you don't have any pokemon yourself. But don't worry, I'll protect you on your way out."

"Thanks! I don't think I've seen you around before. I'm Bianca, by the way."

"Nice to meet you, Bianca. I'm Iris. I live in Opelucid City, but I came here for some training."

"Nice to meet you," Bianca said, shaking her hand. "Oh!" she realized after she did. "You're that... Um... You're new to Unova, right?"

Iris grinned. "You've got it. I'm that Iris."

"Oh, I know! I've seen you on TV. You looked really good. So, you're that gym leader's, no that mayor's, ah..."

"Yes, I'm Drayden's protégé. And the new Opelucid gym leader."

"Wow," Bianca said. Iris seemed like she was younger than her, and already considered so talented and had gotten so far with her training. "That's really cool!"

Iris grinned. She knew she shouldn't let success go to her head. Still, it was nice to have this attractive older girl admiring her. "Thanks. It's fun, but it's no big," Iris said to preserve her modesty. "Well, let's go!"

Bianca walked forward, behind Iris and her pokemon. She looked at how Iris walked, standing up straight and full of confidence. It was the perfect image of the 'cool' pokemon trainer in attitude. Though, Bianca considered, it wasn't matched in style. Unfitting of the cool trainer image, Iris was a young girl who was dressed casually. And her pokemon was... Well, not the one Bianca herself would have picked.

"Iris, do you have any other pokemon?" Bianca asked as they walked ahead.

"Not with me," Iris said. "But of course! I've trained a lot of pokemon. Since I've come to Unova, my Grandpa - I mean Drayden's kept me really busy with that."

"Oh," Bianca said. Then why did she just have this axew, Bianca wondered. It didn't seem powerful, nor did it fit any kind of cute image. "Why did you only bring this one, then?"

"Oh, Axew was getting frustrated. It needed to battle pokemon more on its level. I'd been here before, and it seemed just right for now."

Bianca nodded. She hadn't thought of it before, but she supposed pokemon had a variety of levels of skill. Trainers like Iris would have to put a lot of thought into what they did to train them.

As they reached the edge of the grass, Bianca shouted at the sight. There was a group of patrat, going inside her bags and taking out all of her produce. "No, no, no!" Bianca said. She ran up to her bags and the pokemon all scurried away. "What am I going to tell my mom?" she said to herself. They hadn't gotten much, she started to realize, maybe it wouldn't be that big of a deal.

Iris grinned, and her eyes narrowed. She could see quickly that only two of the patrat had carried anything anyway. "Hm. This should be fun," she said. "Are you ready, Axew?"

"Axew!" Axew nodded.

"That way!" Iris said, pointing toward the patrat that had just darted into the grass. She followed Axew as it ran, and then stood under the tree where she knew the other patrat was. Iris watched as Axew jumped in front of the patrat it had been pursuing and shouted, "Scary face!" Axew instantly followed through with the attack, and the patrat was frozen in place. "Scratch attack!" Iris ordered.

Axew swiped once at the pokemon in front of it, then grabbed the apples as its opponent fell back. Axew let the patrat run away, then turned toward Iris again for further instruction. "Right there!" Iris shouted, pointing in the direction the other perpetrator was going the instant it jumped down from the tree. "Again, scary face then scratch attack!" she said.

Axew caught up with the other patrat easily enough. Repeating the moves, it got hold of Bianca's other apple. Iris nodded in approval. "Good job, Axew. I think you've mastered this area," she praised. They both walked out of the tall grass and back toward Bianca. "Hey, we've got your stuff back!" Iris called to her.

Bianca smiled. She'd seen the battle and found it amazing that Iris's reactions had been so quick, and again how this Axew was to follow them her commands as soon as she'd spoken. "That was great! Thanks!"

"It was good to get the practice," Iris said.

Axew walked over to Bianca and held up the apples it had retrieved. "Axew?" it said.

"Oh," Bianca said. Axew had tried so hard in getting these back, but they were beaten up and damaged from being retrieved. "Um, thanks. You can keep them."

"Axew!" Axew said happily.

Iris giggled. Drayden would probably say it would spoil Axew to treat it so much, but Iris decided she'd allow her pokemon to just enjoy the reward. "I think Axew means to say thank you," she said.

"You're welcome, Axew," Bianca said, observing the pokemon as it now chowed down on the apples. It was still weird looking. But at the same time, battling with Iris, it had looked cool. Still, Bianca wondered why Iris had chosen it. "Iris, why did you choose Axew as your pokemon?" she asked.

"It's the second axew I've trained! The first was just so awesome, you know? So when this axew hatched, I told Drayden that I'd definitely be the one to train it. I know we've still got a long way to go, though," Iris said.

"Really? But you seem like masters already," Bianca said honestly. She'd seen other pokemon battles, but never a trainer and pokemon in such instant sync before. Not to mention her Axew's moves seemed to end the battles instantly.

Iris laughed again. "No way! Axew has to get more powerful, learn more moves, and of course evolve to the highest level. And I've got a lot I have to do for it along the way, too."

Bianca nodded. "It seems like there's a lot to pokemon training," she said.

"Aren't you a trainer, too?" Iris asked.

"Oh, no, I'm not," Bianca said.

"Why not? You look old enough," Iris said. Then she stopped herself, giving that statement some thought. Though almost everyone from her home village has trained pokemon, there were a lot of people she'd met that weren't and had never been a trainer in Unova. "You don't want to?" Iris suggested.

"I do," Bianca said. She then felt embarrassed. Yes, she'd wanted to train pokemon since she was little. But this was the first time she'd really admitted it since then.

"Then you should!" Iris declared. "If you want to train, go train!"

Bianca nodded at the younger girl. She knew it really wasn't as simple as just wanting to, though.

"You're headed to, um, Nuvema Town, right? Professor Juniper lives there, doesn't she? I bet she'd be the one to ask for a pokemon," Iris said.

"Well, I wouldn't want to bother her," Bianca said.

"Come on!" Iris insisted. "You'll never be able to with that attitude! If she says no, you could just figure out someone else to ask for your first pokemon."

"I guess you're right," Bianca said calmly. She didn't have the gung-ho ambition of this girl, one who was younger than her and yet a gym leader already. But maybe she could learn something from her. Bianca supposed she'd never be able to be a trainer unless she took some initiative. If she did decide that she wanted to, Professor Juniper would definitely be the first person to go to. If the professor said yes, then she really could train one of those fun 'starting' pokemon, and more. Bianca daydreamed, then nearly tripped again as she walked forward. "Oops," Bianca said.

"You okay?" Iris asked.

Bianca saw Iris looked at her with a concerned expression. Bianca was used to similar reactions to her clumsiness. She just stood up, laughing and smiling toward the other girl. "Fine, thanks."

Iris grinned back. She was lucky to meet such a friendly, cute girl, and didn't want to say good-bye so soon. So she continued to talk to her. "Hey Miss, um, Bianca, right?" Bianca nodded. "Well, why don't we help you, Bianca?" Iris asked.

"Oh, don't think you have to," Bianca said.

"We want to. Right, Axew?" Iris said.

"Axew!" Axew agreed as it finished its last apple.

"You could even help us. Do you know any newbie trainers that hang out in Nuvema?" Iris asked.

"Um, I think I know someone who might be around," Bianca said.

"Great! So, it works out perfect, we'll help each other."

"Well, thanks then," Bianca said. Iris took one of Bianca's bags, and Axew held the watermelon in front of it. They walked forward. "I really do think you're pretty thoughtful, Iris. I'm lucky you were there to save me."

"Next time you need saving, just call," Iris said.

"Axew!" Axew agreed.

"And if you become a trainer, definitely come to our gym! I'd like more challengers like you," Iris said.

"Like me?" Bianca repeated.

"Um, yeah," Iris said. "I don't know... Well, you're nice, and seem like you'd be relaxed about the whole thing. You're not like the loud trainers that come wandering in. Some are powerful, some aren't, but so many have to put on some kind of tough guy or tough girl show. I can tell you wouldn't be that kind of trainer."

"Oh, thank you," Bianca said. That gave her something to think about. She had been sure that the "tough" image was almost a requirement to being a trainer. If it wasn't, and from the impression she'd gotten from Iris, it really wasn't, then yes, even Bianca herself could be a trainer. She daydreamed about it as they walked on.

The idea of what a trainer was supposed to be what kind of trainer she might be still conflicted. Well, she didn't have to be "tough", but she couldn't seem too weak, either, could she. Bianca imagined her most recent example, Iris. Iris had seemed "tough", hadn't she? Maybe that was why Axew had listened to her. But then again, it was more firm than "tough". That word could mean a lot of different things.

"Axew!" Axew shouted to get Bianca's attention.

"Ah," Bianca said, realizing the mistake she'd been about to make and caught her balance before she tripped on the slight incline that led to Nuvema Town. Bianca sighed in relief. She'd done that before, but would prefer not to around Iris. "Oh, thank you, Axew," Bianca said.

"Axew!" Axew nodded.

"So where are you taking this stuff?" Iris asked.

"Just to my house," Bianca said. "This way!" she said, leading Iris in the right direction. "I'm home!" she announced as she opened the door.

"Welcome back," Bianca's mother said. "Oh?" she said as she saw Iris. "Who's your friend, Bianca?"

"This is Iris, she just helped me when I ran into some wild pokemon," Bianca said.

"Oh, Bianca. You know you need to stick to the trail and stay out of the grass. Even if you want to play with the wild pokemon, they might not want to be bothered," Bianca's mother scolded.

"Mom! That's not what happened!" Bianca insisted, blushing with embarrassment. She'd been in kindergarten the last time she'd done something like run into the woods after wild pokemon.

"Of course," Bianca's mom assured, then turned to Iris. "Thanks for helping my Bianca. I know a new trainer like yourself must be very busy."

"Oh, yeah," Iris said. It was much easier to be modest with someone who didn't recognize her. "It was no problem. But Bianca, you were going to help me, right? Can you right now?"

"Oh, well, sure!" Bianca said, looking to her mom. "I'll be back in just a little while, okay Mom?"

Her mother nodded, and Bianca dashed outside with Iris and Axew. They began to walk around the town. "I think he might still be around... I don't know if he left to go and challenge any gyms yet," Bianca explained about the new trainer that she knew.

"We can check quickly, right?" Iris said. This was a small town after all.

"Yeah," Bianca nodded. She took the time to knock on the door.

The young male trainer answered the door. "Yeah?" he said. "What is it, Bianca?" he said, stepping outside and folding his arms.

Iris pointed to his belt. "Ah! So you are a trainer! I'm challenging you to a battle, then!"

The trainer looked at Iris dubiously, then narrowed his eyes. "Oh, you're Iris, right?"

"You've got it," Iris said.

"Will I get the legend badge if I beat you?"

"No, why would you?" Iris said, scowling.

"You're a gym leader now, right?" the trainer asked.

"Yeah, that doesn't mean every battle I do is for a badge, though!" Iris said.

"I thought you couldn't refuse challenges as a gym leader."

"Hey, I'm the one that challenged you," Iris pointed out.

"Well, I want to challenge you, too."

Iris frowned. "We're not even in the gym, so no badge. Quit being so pushy, this is just practice for the both of us."

The trainer finally just nodded. "I'll win anyway," he said.

"Alright! One against one, let's go!" Iris said.

The trainer nodded, and walked away from his house. Grabbing a pokeball, he pulled his cap back, and then looked forward poignantly. "I'm ready!" he said.

"Axew will battle this time," Iris said.

"Axew!" Axew said as it jumped forward in front of Iris and Bianca.

"Fine, and I choose Pidove!" the trainer said, and threw his pokeball forward. He smirked and folded his arms again. "I bet you weren't expecting that."

Bianca watched carefully, observing the boy. Yes, this was her vision of a trainer. Cool and confident, her acquaintance intently concentrated on the scene ahead, not letting any weakness show. His pidove seemed to mirror that attitude, and furrowed its brow as it circled above Axew.

Iris was unfazed, and just calmly looked forward, still keeping the pleasant expression she'd worn before. She could see the other trainer's idea, that Axew couldn't get his pokemon if it were in the air. "Axew, hone claws," she said.

Axew had practiced this before, and now dutifully performed the move. The other trainer's face turned to confusion. "Pidove, quick attack!" he ordered.

Pidove performed the fast move. Axew barely budged as it moved back. "Now Axew, scratch attack!" Iris said as soon as the flying pokemon was near.

Axew moved forward before the pidove could retreat to the skies, and hit it dead on. It fell to the ground, obviously knocked out. Iris's opponent looked on in disbelief.

"Alright!" Iris said. It seemed the other trainer had been a little too low level, she thought to herself, but still smiled and thanked him. "Thanks for the battle."

"Yeah," he said, returning his pidove to the pokeball.

"You know, there's a lot of gyms between here and Opelucid. If you practice there and get really good, it might be exciting to battle you again," Iris said.

"Yeah, thanks," the boy said. He forced a smile before running off.

Bianca walked toward Iris now that the battle was done. "That was really good, Iris," she complimented. "I might know some other trainers too, if you want. I mean if Axew's not too tired."

"That would be lots of help, thanks!" Iris said. "I think Axew's ready to take on all kinds of trainers. What do you think, Axew?"

"Axew!" Axew agreed.

Bianca led Iris around town and introduced her to various trainers, the other new trainer that Bianca knew, and also older trainers who had stopped seriously battling but still had their pokemon. Every time her challenge was accepted, Iris easily won.

"Okay, I think Axew really could use a little rest now," Iris said. "We've been battling all day. But thanks for your help, though."

"Oh, I'm glad to help, it's been fun to watch you," Bianca said. "Good luck with everything, Iris. I'd better go home now."

"Oh, wait," Iris said.

"Yes?" Bianca said, giving Iris her full attention.

"Oh, um..." Iris began. There were plenty of people she met where it just ended there, but she didn't want this girl to be one of them. "I want to hear about what you do later with your training, Bianca. I can even give advice and stuff! So let's exchange numbers, okay?"

"Oh, sure," Bianca said. She was surprised yet pleased that someone like Iris would be interested enough to ask her this. "I'll look forward to talking to you then," she said.

Iris waved good-bye as Bianca wandered off. Iris clutched her phone close. "Alright!" she said.

"Axew?" Axew said.

"This is great, Axew," Iris said. She wasn't sure why she was so excited about this. Bianca had been very friendly to her, but she was just another girl, right? Well, Iris had met a lot of people in Unova, plenty of nice ones, too. But she still didn't have any friends, other than her pokemon at least. Bianca seemed like someone who might fill that role. Or at least, someone who Iris really wanted to fill that role.

"Come on, Axew!" Iris said, running off, fueled by her excitement.

"Axew," Axew said, running after her.

"Yeah, I know you're tired. We'll stick to the path with no battling. You can rest when we get to the pokemon center, okay?"

"Axew," Axew nodded.

Iris wondered if she might give Bianca a quick call when she got there. Well, that might be too soon. A quick message would be alright, though. Iris put her emotion into her activity, and kept running toward the town with Axew beside her.

* * *

That night, Bianca sat in her room, combing her hair after getting out of the shower. She looked toward her cabinet of pokemon goods. Seeing the shelf with the figures got her even more excited than before. She was starting to imagine that she really could really be a trainer, and work with the real life versions of these representations. Observing these figures, Bianca saw her dreams of various possibilities.

In the back corner, Bianca saw the figure she'd carelessly tucked away. She opened the cabinet and took it out, observing it carefully. No, this collection hadn't really done Axew any favors, the real life version looked somewhat less weird. But at the same time, Bianca still didn't really think that Axew was the best looking pokemon, considering both matters of toughness and cuteness. Regarding both, it wasn't lacking, just dull.

But it didn't really matter, Bianca realized. The trainer as well as the pokemon could look like anything and still be acceptable. Her neighbor the 'tough' trainer and young Iris who sported a casual attitude and dress were just two of the variety of people that formed bonds with pokemon. Even she could be a trainer, Bianca told herself, with the pokemon versions of any of the representations that were there. If she took some initiative, talked to her parents and Professor Juniper, maybe that path would lead to something great.

Bianca now placed the Axew figure at the front of her collection. Spinning it around to the perfect angle, she saw even this figure could have its own unique sort of cuteness. Thinking about it, Bianca had decided that Iris's axew was both tough and cute, a perfect match with its trainer. The two of them were the perfect match, and Bianca knew it wasn't just luck but effort that led to that reality. If she became a trainer herself, Bianca hoped to be able to form those kinds of bonds.


	2. Departure

**2**  
**Departure**

"Oh, here it is!" Bianca said, opening her envelope as she happily chatted with Iris. "I wondered where I'd put this."

"What's that there, Bianca?" Iris asked, trying to peer close at her friend's hands though the video quality was waning.

Bianca blushed. She really shouldn't be all enthused about this kind of thing, not when she was now aiming to be a real pokemon trainer. "Um, I did cancel my membership to this pokemon fan club, but they just-"

"Why did you do that? They didn't send you any good stuff or something?" Iris asked. She had looked around Bianca's bedroom a couple of time, and knew that wasn't the case, they had a lot of awesome collector's items that they sent out.

"Well, I know since I'm going to be training real pokemon, I don't have the time or budget for it anymore," Bianca said.

"Oh, that stinks, pokemon fan clubs can be tons of fun, huh?" Iris said.

"Well... Yes!" Bianca admitted. She'd been trying to purge herself of that opinion, but if a great trainer like Iris felt that way, why shouldn't Bianca also admit it? "I love the cute photos and figures I get," she said.

"Me too," Iris said.

"So you're also a member of a pokemon fan club?" Bianca asked.

"Yeah, two of them," Iris said. "For dragon type pokemon. One for the haxorus evolution line. Another for the dragonite evolution line. I'd love to train one someday. But they're rare even in their region. Grandpa says I've already got my hands full without trying to collect, anyway."

"I haven't heard too much about that line," Bianca said. She tried to remember it in her mind, a dragonite, but couldn't think of what one might look like. "You'll have to show me pictures sometime."

"Sure! But what pokemon do you love enough to be in a fan club of?" Iris asked.

"Oh, well, it's just for cute pokemon in general," Bianca said. "I canceled my membership, but wait! I'll show you what they just sent."

Bianca disappeared off of the camera's view as she looked for the envelope she'd just haphazardly placed somewhere . Iris got a good look at the cute interior of her flowery room. Bianca eventually returned, smiling at her. "Ta da!" she said, holding out the poster that had been sent. It showed a snivy, oshawott, and tepig, all in cute action poses.

"That's neat artwork," Iris said.

"Yeah, and just think, in a day or so I get to choose one for myself." Bianca grinned. She'd be happy with any of the three. Which made the decision harder, actually. "Um, Iris, what do you think I should choose?"

"Oh, gee, that's a hard question. Yeah, there's really no pokemon you _should_ choose," Iris said.

"I guess that's right," Bianca said. "What pokemon did you choose to start with?"

"Axew!" Iris exclaimed.

Of course, Bianca realized, spying an eye toward her cabinet where the Axew figure still was displayed in prominence. It seemed give off a cool, self-assured attitude, almost like Iris herself. It spied a look around confidently. Yeah, Bianca had decided, any pokemon could be cool like that.

But Axew wasn't one of her choices. She was going to chose from the three on her poster. If Hilda and Cheren didn't make their choices before her, of course. But if she did choose first, which should it be? Shouldn't she have studied that much already, if she was going to be a trainer so soon?

"Hey, Bianca!" Iris shouted, unwilling to surrender her attention to daydreaming. "They all look awesome, and have powerful final forms. So just go with what you feel at the time, okay?"

Bianca nodded. "Okay!" she said. "It's kind of weird that I'm going to be a trainer, though."

"It's not weird at all. You're awesome, and I know you'll try hard and give your pokemon your best. And I'll be there to help you along the way," Iris declared.

"That would be great!" Bianca said. Iris was busy and couldn't help her all the time, Bianca knew, but she was enthused just at the idea of having the input of such a strong trainer... Even if Iris was a little younger than her. "Are you sure you'll have time?" Bianca asked.

"Yeah, I'll make time," Iris said.

"Really? Do you help a lot of new trainers, Iris?" Bianca asked.

"No, not really. Other than you, just ones who train in the gym here in Opelucid."

"Really? But then why would you help me?" Bianca asked.

"Ah, because, yeah, you know. You're a good friend," Iris said, now folding her arms and looking away awkwardly. "Yeah, you're my best friend."

"I am?" Bianca said. She was surprised that Iris might say that. She wondered who she might describe as her 'best' friend. Maybe not anyone, since she had so many friends. But still, Iris thought of her that way?

Iris noticed Bianca's perplexed expression. "Ah, no, well, I mean, you're a 'special' friend. I can decide to help my special friends all I want!" Iris explained quickly.

"It's really nice of you," Bianca said, widely smiling at her.

"Yeah..." Iris said, smiling herself and then blushing slightly. She then cleared her throat. "If you want my help, I'm gonna use my break to meet you before your first gym battle. If you don't think you need help, I'll just be a spectator."

"Oh, wow, it'll be so good to see you again, Iris," Bianca said.

"I can't wait!" Iris said, her excitement fueled up by Bianca's words and warm expression. "Oh, well, I'd better get training though, I'm gonna train with everyone extra hard so we earn our break. I'd better get started now!"

"Oh, go for it, Iris," Bianca cheered.

"I will. But you too. Once you get your first pokemon, you'll need to push yourself just as hard in training as the pokemon," Iris said.

"I will," Bianca affirmed before she and Iris said good-bye. How much longer would it be? Bianca wondered this as she put up her poster. It was maybe even less than a day. Bianca wondered if she'd even be able to sleep that night with her excitement.

It really was fair that Hilda got to pick first, Bianca thought to herself. That would leave Bianca herself with a less difficult choice afterwards anyway. Hilda ended up picking Oshawott. Bianca felt momentary disappointment, since Oshawott was just that adorable when Hilda sent it out from the pokeball, but then realized that she had a choice of two other equally great pokemon.

Just which one to pick? Bianca tried to think about it seriously, recalling pokemon types and moves and things like that. But all she could think of was the poster that was now on her wall, and how the snivy on it had a thoughtful expression that nearly mirrored the one that Cheren wore at that moment. "Alright! I'll take Tepig, and Snivy is for Cheren," she said with a grin.

Cheren sighed. "Deciding on your own? Well it doesn't matter, I wanted Snivy to start with."

Bianca grinned. It had all worked out then. She gripped her pokeball happily. Tepig was not only adorable, but could learn various fire attacks. There was no reason to give her decision a second thought. Even considering that, Hilda's oshawott beat her pretty easily. Oh well, Bianca thought to herself. Hilda and Cheren had both seemed to spend way more time studying on how to best be a trainer over the years. Well, she'd just have to do her best to catch up, Bianca affirmed to herself.

Now it was time for their adventure. Bianca took her first steps out of Nuvema Town with her friends. But after that, she was on her own, she knew. Bianca felt kind of lonely as she wandered around the area. Well, she didn't need to, right? Pokemon and humans provided each other with companionship. Bianca smiled as she brought out her pokeball. "Go, Tepig!" she shouted.

"Tepig!" Tepig appeared. It looked at Bianca for a moment, then out and around curiously. "Tepig, tepig," the pokemon said, sniffing around the area and wandering away from Bianca.

"Tepig!" Bianca called. "Don't go too far!" she called as she ran after it. "Hey!"

"Tepig," Tepig looked behind itself and up at Bianca. "Tepig!" it said, now standing at attention in front of her.

Bianca breathed a sigh of relief. She didn't really consider herself a disciplinarian. A naughty pokemon might cause her some trouble. Though she didn't really get to choose what kind of nature her pokemon had, it seemed Tepig was eager to follow her, despite their previous loss. Maybe Tepig had only wandered away because it was confused about the new surroundings. "Alright, Tepig," Bianca said, smiling widely. "We've got a little contest right now."

"Tepig?" the pokemon tilted its head at her.

"Yep. We're going to see if we can catch some pokemon to compete with Hilda and Cheren." Or at least one pokemon, Bianca thought to herself. She doubted she could beat Hilda, who had seemed to catch on to battling right away, or Cheren, who had often talked to her about the best ways to catch pokemon. But just one would be a nice start to her journey, and collecting data for Professor Juniper's pokedex.

"Tepig!" Tepig declared, standing in front of her.

"Alright," Bianca said, walking forward. Tepig began to follow her. They trudged through the grassy area now, where pokemon were more common and humans were there to disturb much less often. Bianca eventually caught sight of the patrat, the ones who had so often annoyed her before.

"Oh," Bianca said, frowning. Would she really need to catch one of those?

"Tepig!" Tepig stood in front of her as a patrat came their way.

"Um... Tepig, try Tail Whip," Bianca suggested.

"Tepig!" Tepig said in affirmation. It moved closer to the patrat and threw its tail in the other pokemon's face. The patrat just took the opportunity to tackle Tepig, who cried out.

"Oh no," Bianca said. She'd tried this before when battling Hilda. Maybe she should have just gone for the hit. "Tepig, go! Tackle!" she ordered.

Tepig tackled the patrat, which attacked right back. "Again, tackle!" Bianca ordered quickly. As Tepig went and tackled again, the patrat fell back, seeming to be knocked out.

"Alright! We won!" Bianca said happily.

"Tepig!" her pokemon said cheerfully.

"Oh, now, if I want to catch it..." Bianca began to look through her bag. She hadn't lost those new pokeballs, had she? No, she'd definitely put them in here and the bag didn't really seem any lighter. This wasn't the place to dump everything out and look, was it?

"Got it!" Bianca said, pulling out her empty pokeball. Just as she did, the patrat had gotten up and scurried away. "Oh," Bianca said. Her tepig looked at her worriedly. Bianca just smiled. "It's fine," she said, both to herself and the pokemon. She hadn't really wanted a patrat anyway.

"You did well," Bianca praised Tepig. "It's our first victory, huh?"

"Tepig!"

Bianca took a moment to look Tepig over. It must have been damaged from those tackles, walking slower and looking down at the ground, rather than being alert as it had when she'd originally sent it out. Bianca pulled the potion out of her bag and used it. Tepig's expression brightened, and it smiled at her. "Tepig!"

Bianca smiled back. Maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to bring only one potion. "Hmm..." Bianca considered if Accumula or Nuvema were closer. Home probably was, and her mom had some potions there.

Bianca took a moment to message her friends, saying she would probably only be able to meet them later in the day. "Alright Tepig, we're going to stop by home, okay?" she said.

Tepig just followed as Bianca walked ahead. As they reached the edge, Bianca let out a shout in surprise. Her pokemon jumped out in front of her. "Oh," Bianca said. It was a lillipup, which were also common around the area. She'd always thought they were cute, but contained her urge to fawn over it here.

That's right, she was a trainer, and might be serious, or at least serious enough not to mess this up. Lillipup seemed to have a no-nonsense expression itself. Bianca looked forward, determined. Her tepig mirrored her stance. Her pokemon was healthy enough for this battle, Bianca gaged, and she was close enough to home to get more potions and heal it if anything happened. There was no reason to run. "Tepig, try tackle!" Bianca ordered.

Tepig faithfully followed her commands. The lillipup frowned back adamantly, ready to attack, but Bianca could tell it was of a lower level than the pokemon she'd gotten from Professor Juniper. Bianca threw the pokeball at Lillipup as it moved toward them. "Yes!" she shouted in triumph as the pokemon was captured. "Looks like we've got a new friend," she said to Tepig.

"Tepig!" Tepig nodded in approval.

Bianca grinned. She finally felt like a real trainer. A trainer could be anyone, after all. She'd do her best to help these pokemon become strong. It seemed to her that Tepig was getting a little stronger already.

Bianca looked around as she walked up to Accumula Town. Neither Hilda nor Cheren were nearby. She waited by the entrance for a while, but then got bored and began to wander off. The pokemon center was nearby, and she should really check it out. It would be an important place for her as a trainer. They healed the pokemon there, and also offered free meals for both pokemon and trainer. In addition, she could stay overnight there.

"Welcome!" the nurse greeted as Bianca stepped in.

"Oh, hello," Bianca said. She looked around nervously, unsure of what to do.

"Are you a trainer?"

"Yes!" Bianca said.

"Oh, you must be one of the new trainers Professor Juniper called about."

"I am," Bianca said.

"I've been expecting you. Let me tell you about what you can expect at every pokemon center."

Bianca followed the friendly nurse around. There were plenty of things she needed to remember in order to properly care for her pokemon. And if she ever needed help, there were plenty of people here to provide it. As they walked around, Bianca met many people just inside the pokemon center. Her fellow trainers of varying ages were more than happy to talk to her. The man selling supplies was ready to give her tips. It really wasn't lonely at all, being a pokemon trainer.

Bianca broke free of her various conversations, knowing she should look for Hilda or Cheren. As she left the pokemon center, some kids came running up to her. "Hey, lady, are you a pokemon trainer?" one asked.

"That's right," Bianca said.

"Let me see your pokemon!"

"Let us see!"

"Oh, alright," Bianca said. She fumbled in her bag, where could her pokeballs have gone? They were definitely in there, it had been secured tightly. She found them and pulled them out. "Go, Tepig! Lillipup!"

The kids crowded around the pokemon as they were released and shouted happily. Tepig looked confused, Lillipup was tense, looking around and seeming ready for a battle. "Oh, Lillipup," Bianca said. She'd realized this pokemon had a more serious personality. But it really should relax in this case, they were just around some little kids.

"Pup!" It barked as a kid came near it, trying to pet it. Bianca judged then that she definitely needed to return it to its pokeball. She took one out, but it was Tepig's, and she returned it instead. "Where's Lillipup's? I just had it... Hey, please back away!" Bianca went and grabbed up her lillipup.

"We didn't want to hurt it," one of the kids said.

"I know," Bianca said. She should have known better than to take these mostly untrained pokemon out to a crowd of eager kids. She hadn't shown her best judgment. Her pokemon weren't comfortable in a sudden situation like that. Lillipup was calmer but still tense in Bianca's arms. Tepig might have been okay, but even then...

"Bianca, what are you doing?" Cheren asked.

"Oh, hi Cheren," Bianca said. "Well, I was just..."

"Bianca, you shouldn't bring your pokemon out like that. It's not wise," Cheren chided.

Bianca hugged Lillipup and frowned. She'd known that. Being lectured about it by Cheren had her feeling ashamed. "Yeah, you're right," she said.

"That's right. They're living creatures who love to battle, not toys. They only need to be brought out in certain situations, for battling, training, and care," Cheren continued.

"That's not true, Cheren," Bianca insisted. As a child, she'd loved to see the pokemon of various trainers. She could get close to those pokemon, pat their heads to say hello, and even play games with them sometimes. She and other children could do so because they'd been so well trained. Bianca knew she'd been wrong to suddenly put her pokemon in that situation, but also knew that it was something they might have fun doing some day. "Pokemon also want variety in their lives. They want to do all kinds of things, and meet all kinds of people and pokemon, the same as us."

Cheren appeared to thoughtfully consider what Bianca said, but had no response to it. He was eventually distracted. "There's Hilda," he said. "I see you've caught at least one pokemon. Any others?"

"No," Bianca said.

"I also have just one," Cheren said.

It turned out Hilda had two, so she won their game. They spoke of their plans to go to the nearest gym, and then Cheren left, not wanting to waste time to the next town. Bianca happily showed Hilda around the pokemon center, repeating what the nurse had told her earlier. They battled again, and Bianca lost. She sheepishly showed her pokemon to the nurse as Hilda left.

Waiting in the lobby, Bianca got into a long conversation with an old man about his journeys as a trainer. It was actually kind of interesting, Bianca thought, how things had changed since then. But she still turned toward the door as she heard it open. "Oh!" she said as she saw who it was. "Oh, it's been nice talking to you, but I have to go," she said. After giving her salutations, she ran over to Iris.

"You made it here already?" Iris said.

"Yes," Bianca said. She actually thought she'd taken a while to do so.

"Yeah, I'm just kidding, I know I'm late," Iris said. "Show me your pokemon!"

"Nurse Joy is taking care of them after their last battle," Bianca said.

"Bianca!" Joy called.

"There we are!" Bianca said. After she got her pokemon back, she decided to be careful and just show Iris one. "Tepig, go!"

"Tepig?" Tepig again looked confused, and started to wander.

"Oh, so you chose the fire type," Iris said.

"Tepig!" Bianca called, and got its attention as Tepig looked toward her. "We're in the pokemon center. I want you to meet Iris! She's my, um, friend."

"That's right," Iris said. "I heard about you way before we even met. Nice to meet you, Tepig!"

"Tepig!" Tepig said happily.

"And, you've got one more?" Iris said.

"Oh, my lillipup. It's kind of, um, it doesn't seem to like being around people," Bianca said. "It's a great pokemon anyway, though! It's super adorable, too," she defended it.

"Show me anyway," Iris said.

"Okay," Bianca said. She released the pokemon from the pokeball.

Iris looked at Lillipup and saw that it held a tense, serious expression. She mirrored the expression, then got down and stared at it. After a moment, Iris spoke. "Pleased to meet you," she said in a serious manner.

Lillipup put its head up, and then took a step back toward Bianca. It stood silently by her side. "Alright, we're friends now," Iris declared. Bianca began to giggle. "What?" Iris said.

"Oh, um, nothing, you just looked kind of funny like that. But I do think it's great that you act like this with pokemon, Iris. You're such a good trainer."

"Oh, uh, yeah," Iris said, becoming flustered a moment. Then she cleared her throat. "Well, your pokemon seem to be developing a bond with you already. You've got the makings of a good trainer yourself."

Bianca nodded. She really wanted that to be true.

"So, next what?" Iris continued. "Let's have dinner, then play around with our pokemon, huh? I can give you training tips. Then when you're ready, I can watch you challenge those brothers. It'll be great! Let's go! Let's get to it!"

Bianca was a little overwhelmed by Iris's energy. "Um, yeah," she began.

"Maybe I'm rushing it too much. But I really really hope I can see your first gym battle. I really do!"

"You can if you want, of course! I don't know if it would be a good show, but having you around is always fun," Bianca said.

"Thanks. But it's not really if I want to or not. It's if I can," Iris said, then sighed. "My break might be cut short. Even now I could be called back."

"Oh," Bianca said. "Is something going on at the gym?"

"No, it's not in the gym. But something's going on. At least people think there is. Who knows if there is or not!" Iris said flippantly.

"Iris," Nurse Joy called for her from across the room.

Iris and Bianca walked up to her. "Yeah?" Iris said.

"Please don't speak so loudly about sensitive subjects. It's upsetting to some people," Nurse Joy said.

"But there's really nothing to be upset about," Iris said.

"So nothing's going on?" Bianca asked.

"Uh, no, just look," Iris began. "Some people say they've seen the legendary dragon pokemon. But they're just legends. Why would they show up after thousands years or something?"

"I've definitely seen one," a random trainer joined in. "Reshiram just-"

"Are you sure you saw it? Or is it just fun to think you did?" Iris asked dubiously.

"I saw it! I'm pretty sure," the trainer said. "It was kind of far away though."

Iris shrugged. "Yeah, it would be pretty cool if you had, huh?"

"He's not the only one," the man Bianca had been talking to before spoke up.

"So, you've seen Zekrom or Reshiram too?" Iris asked.

"No, but I've heard stories from many who have. It's not a good sign. Those two are telltale omens of war and other misfortune."

"Oh, no, just stop and listen," Iris said seriously. "If you saw those awesome dragon pokemon, it wouldn't be anything other than awesome. It wouldn't be a sign of anything terrible at all. It would just be something cool to brag about!"

"Reshiram and Zekrom?" Bianca repeated. "I know about those two! Didn't they create Unova?"

"They happened to recreate it, from whatever it was before their war tore it apart," the old man example.

"Oh." Bianca nodded as she listened to him. She'd heard something like that before, too. They had created it after some kind of natural disaster.

"That's not it," Iris said, folding her arms. "I'll tell the real story to you, Bianca. A long time ago, Reshiram and Zekrom were one awesome pokemon that created Unova. They became two when these twin 'heroes' decided to use them for their own fight. Yeah, there was a lot of bad stuff that happened, but it was just because of those terrible so-called heroes. I don't believe anyone who calls them a bad omen."

"Images of those two have appeared before disaster and conflict throughout Unova history," the old man pointed out.

"Yeah, well there's images of them everywhere around Unova, so I'd believe that! Even there!" Iris pointed to an abstract painting on the wall.

"Is that supposed to be them?" Bianca inquired, tilting her head.

"Yeah, look, it's even called 'Truth Vs. Ideals'!" Iris pointed to the name of the painting. "So there you go. Hope we don't run into anything terrible." Iris nodded, amused with herself.

"Oh, please don't say that!" Bianca said.

"Bianca, you don't believe in omens and superstitious stuff, do you?" Iris asked.

"Oh, no, no way," Bianca said. She'd had so many reality-based anxieties about her journey, she didn't want to add any 'bad omens' on top of them. Though they were pretty silly, Bianca thought to herself to become calmer.

"Yeah, no way you would," Iris said. "Look, even if Reshiram and Zekrom are back after all those hundreds or thousands of years or whatever, there's no nasty heroes wanting to make a fight out of it. They'd just be watching over the region they created, wondering what they can do to help it," she concluded.

"I do hope so, Miss Iris," the older man said, sitting down again.

"It's true. I know it is!" Iris affirmed. "Now, let's go, Bianca! We can get maybe an hour of training in before dinner."

"I don't know, we've already worked kind of hard today already," Bianca said.

"Hey, if you want to be the very best, you can't slack at all!" Iris said.

"Yeah... You're right," Bianca said. Iris was very dedicated when it came to matters of training, even Bianca's own training, she realized. "But won't it mess with your break, my training?"

"No way!" Iris said happily. "There's no other place I'd rather spend my time than with you," she gushed. She realized that might sound a little weird, so just started talking quickly before Bianca could reply. "Um, I'll bring out some of my pokemon too. Let's get going with some exercise!"

Bianca grinned in amusement. So, no matter what, she was going to train, according to Iris. What a dedicated trainer her friend was. But Iris was right of course, Bianca thought. Though they'd battled a lot that day and were tired, training took a lot of work. Bianca wasn't going to be a slacker. She was going to give her pokemon along with herself the very best she could.

"I know a good spot!" Iris called from the door.

"Oh," Bianca said, realizing that Iris had run off. Bianca ran herself to try and catch up. As she moved, her opened pokeball pouch spilled out onto the ground. "Oh no," Bianca said. She was careful to count to make sure she had all the pokeballs as she picked them up. "I'm coming, Iris! We're ready to train!"


	3. Challenge

**3**  
**Challenge**

Bianca caught her breath as she and Iris finally reached Striaton. Iris had kept her busy training along the way, and not wasted a moment. They were surely here before Hilda and Cheren, Bianca considered. "Are you going right for the gym or what?" Iris asked.

Bianca pulled out her map. There were a few places in Striaton she wanted to see. The gym was just one. Besides, Bianca wasn't really sure if she was ready for the challenge. She took a moment to consider.

"Oh no," Iris said as she looked through her messages.

"Is something wrong?" Bianca asked worriedly.

"Ug, um, well, you see, there was a incident in Castelia," Iris said sheepishly.

"Oh no, what happened? Is everyone okay?" Bianca asked.

"Yeah, it's not that kind of incident. It's just something happened and some people are saying that Zekrom appeared in front of everyone," Iris said.

"Oh!" Bianca exclaimed. She remembered that Iris was kind of skeptical about the whole topic. "Do you think it really was Zekrom, then?"

"Who knows? No one there can even say for sure. But I'd really love it if it was. I'll like to battle against Zekrom. Maybe it's too powerful to catch, but it would be awesome to meet!" Iris said. She spun around and smiled, then looked Bianca in the eyes. "But um, if it's really true or not..." Iris shrugged her shoulders. "Eh."

Bianca nodded. She felt similarly to Iris. It was an exciting idea, but still kind of unbelievable that those two just be appearing after so long. Now Iris was being bothered because of it. "Do you have to go, then?" Bianca asked.

Iris frowned. She knew she'd have to get to work again soon, but still wanted more and more time with Bianca, and hated to see it cut short until who knew when. "No!" Iris declared. "Not unless Drayden tells me to himself. I'll stay until then," Iris declared. "So what are you going to do, Bianca? I'm sticking with you!"

"Um," Bianca began. "I'll go to the gym then," she decided quickly. Iris wanted to watch her first gym match pretty badly, it seemed. Bianca was nervous about it, but she'd be just as nervous if she were to wait a few days, or even a month or two. There was no problem in seeing how far her training so far had taken her.

"Great!" Iris said. She grabbed Bianca's arm and pulled her forward. Bianca tripped as they quickly walked forward. "Oh, I'm sorry!" Iris apologized. She'd wanted to impress Bianca, but here she was tossing her around instead.

Bianca laughed awkwardly as she stood up. "Sorry, Iris. I'm really ready to go."

Iris nodded, and they walked forward at a slower pace together now. Tepig, Lillipup, and Axew all walked beside them. They laughed and joked as they entered the city. Bianca was happy Iris was going at a slower pace, but then Iris's face lit up as she saw a familiar building. "The gym!" Iris declared.

"That's it? Are you sure?" Bianca asked.

"Yeah, you know they run their café between battles, right? It's their gimmick, both for the gym and the café," Iris said.

"It looks really nice," Bianca said. She admired the woodwork as they stepped up the stairs to the door.

Iris threw them open haphazardly. "Hey, newbies!" she said loudly.

"W-W-Welcome!" Cilan, one of the gym leaders, stood up and bowed. The other two, Chilli and Cress, looked curiously over the entrance.

"Iris, don't tell us you want to challenge us," Chilli said.

"Don't joke," Iris said, shaking her head. "But you guys do have a challenger."

The brothers looked over at the newcomer next to Iris. They all went up to her. "Hello Miss, it's great to see you here," Chilli said, holding out his hand and shaking Bianca's.

"I-I do hope you enjoy your stay," Cilan added, smiling pleasantly at her.

"What a pleasant surprise to have a beautiful young lady such as yourself as our next challenger," Cress said.

"Oh, um, thanks," Bianca said. She blushed and fidgeted nervously. Though she wasn't really a big fan, she'd heard of these brothers, and they really were cute and charming. She began to get a little self-conscious with them all giving her so much attention.

Iris looked at the brothers warily. "Hey," she began irritably. "You guys should turn down the ham before your fans get jealous," she said.

"Of course," Cilan agreed easily.

"It's all part of the show," Cress said.

"Yeah, relax, Iris. We're happy to see you too," Chilli said, winking at her.

"Hmph," Iris said. "Don't kid yourself, guys. I'm only here with Bianca."

"Bianca? What a nice name," Cress said.

"What's your first pokemon, Miss Bianca?" Chilli asked.

"Tepig," Bianca said.

Chilli and Cilan stepped to the side as she spoke. Cress bowed to her. "How fortunate that is. It means I get to be your opponent," he said. He stood up and looked her in the eyes. "Fortunate for me, that is, to be able to battle a delightful young lady such as yourself. I can't promise I'll be an easy opponent for you though, Miss Bianca."

Again Bianca just blushed, and Iris scowled. "You guys don't have to go that far," she said.

Cilan looked at her with a concerned expression. "Please, Miss Iris, we do strive to be perfect gentlemen in our business," he said.

"Like I said, it's just part of the show. Relax," Chilli said.

Iris knew he was right, but still felt like arguing to get them to stop, especially as she saw how flustered Bianca was getting over Cress in their little 'show'. "How about next time I bring in a pretty boy and you all go googly-eyed and flirty over him then," Iris muttered as she watched it.

"I-It has happened before," Cilan said, smiling and laughing awkwardly.

"Yep," Chilli confirmed.

Iris shrugged. Yes, these three, despite their own preferences which she didn't personally know, would do anything to please a fan. The girls in the café right now were vicariously enjoying the attention that Cress lavished onto Bianca. She'd just have to smile and play along the same as Bianca was, Iris supposed.

Still, she practically pushed Cress as she stepped in-between them. "Good luck, Bianca!" she said happily, then leaded closer to whisper to her. "Be careful using Tepig with these guys. They think they're pretty tricky with their pokemon types."

"Are you going to give away our winning strategy, Miss Iris?" Cress asked.

"It's obvious without me even saying it," Iris said. "Just think about it, Bianca. Look at their faces and you can figure it out."

Bianca studied the brothers, scrutinizing their pleasant expressions and their brightly colored hairstyles. How could she figure out anything from just that? Well, they'd asked her about her first pokemon before they'd decided who would fight her, that was another hint. Bianca watched Cress run his hand over his flowing hairstyle, and her mouth opened as she remembered. They all had a different type, so since they choose Cress to fight her, it must have been because they thought they'd have a type advantage. "Oh," Bianca said, frowning.

"Don't be too intimidated, they are newbies, after all," Iris said.

Bianca nodded, trying to appear confident. She was a newbie also, she thought to herself, and these three had been working at this for longer than her. "I challenge you to a battle," she said to Cress.

"As you wish then, please follow me," Cress said.

Bianca followed Cress into the back room, where a stage was set up with tables around it. The observers took a seat in the tables around the area. Cress offered his hand to Bianca as she approached the stage. Bianca looked at the stage itself, confused. "Are all professional pokemon battles held in such fancy places?" she said.

"Well-" Iris began.

"Ah, thank you for complementing our humble accommodations," Cress said.

Iris was silent. She'd been about to say how much cooler Opelucid's gym looked in comparison to theirs, but remembered Drayden's own talks to her about being 'humble'. Be it their gym or her talent, awesome things should speak for themselves, Iris recalled that he'd told her. She took a deep breath and decided to be mature, letting Bianca have her moment as a first time gym challenger, and let the newbie gym leader take up the entirety of the rest of the spotlight.

Bianca took Cress's hand and he lead her to the stage. They stood across from each other. As the signal was given for them to begin, Bianca threw her first pokeball at the same time as him. "Go, Lillipup!" she said.

"It's your turn, Lillipup!" Cress said at the same time. He smiled as she saw Bianca's first chosen pokemon. "Oh? It seems we have similar tastes."

Bianca looked at Cress's lillipup, which seemed to smile at her and her pokemon in anticipation for the battle. It was quite the contrast from Bianca's lillipup, who was tense with a serious expression. "Lillipup, tackle!" Bianca said.

"Lillipup, work up!" Cress said.

Cress's pokemon performed the move, and cringed as Bianca's tackled it, though it didn't seem fazed. Upon seeing the move, Bianca remembered her training, and various conversations with Iris. She knew she shouldn't have just rushed to the offensive. "Mm... Lillipup, leer!" Bianca said.

Bianca's pokemon glared at Cress's, and it seemed to have some effect, as Cress's lillipup paused, but Cress was as cool as ever as he gave his next command. "Lillipup, dazzle us with bite!" he said.

Bianca gasped as Cress's otherwise pleasant looking pokemon let lose with the scary attack. Her lillipup was also shocked, upon feeling the attack and hearing Bianca's gasp. It faltered, and fell to the ground. Bianca saw her pokemon react to her own fear, and returned it to the pokeball as she heard the call that it was no longer able to battle. She frowned. "Go, Tepig!"

"Tepig!" Tepig shouted.

Bianca swallowed nervously. Would he send out the water pokemon right away? No, the rules were that he couldn't switch. She had to continue to try her best. "Tepig, tail whip!" she said.

Tepig waved its tail in front of Lillipup. "Another bite attack!" Cress ordered. Tepig shouted in pain as Lillipup bit it, but turned around and stood tall.

"Tepig, try ember," Bianca said. Tepig blew out an impressive stream of fire, and Bianca smiled. Cress's Lillipup faltered. "Tackle!" Bianca said before it had time to recover.

"Lillipup, return," Cress said, not waiting for the call that his pokemon would be unable to battle. "It looks like it's one against one again now, Miss Bianca," Cress said. "Go, Panpour!"

Bianca nodded seriously. She looked at Tepig, who was wincing but still on alert for a command or the new pokemon's attack. Bianca pointed toward Tepig at the same time as Cress pointed toward his pokemon. "Tepig, tackle!" she said.

"Panpour, fury swipes," Cress said calmly. Panpour mirrored the sentiment even as Tepig hit it and it began the 'furious' attack. Panpour swiped at Tepig only once before it tripped and fell.

"Tepig! Oh, no!" Bianca said, running over to it right away. As she did the call was given for the end of the battle. "Are you alright?" Bianca asked, holding Tepig tentatively in her arms.

"Tepig," Tepig nodded.

"That's good," Bianca said, though she felt guilty about not leading her pokemon to victory and avoiding it being in this kind of state. "Sorry, Tepig. Thanks for trying your best," she said, and stood up as Cress walked over to her.

"Thank you for the battle Miss Bianca, it's been a pleasure," he said.

"Right," Bianca said, shaking his hand. "Thanks for taking my challenge." Bianca tried not to be rude, but she was distracted. Her pokemon needed to be brought to the pokemon center right away. Bianca only nodded at Cilan and Chili as she ran out the door.

Bianca realized that she had been rude as she saw Iris open the door behind her. She hadn't waited for Iris at all. "Are you okay?" Iris asked as she approached.

"Yes," Bianca said. "Sorry I left like that. I just want to make sure they were both okay."

"Don't worry, your pokemon are tough!" Iris declared. "They're inexperienced, but battling will just make them tougher."

Bianca nodded. She had no doubt that a pokemon that Iris was training would become one of the toughest pokemon after not too long. Bianca herself was a new trainer, so it might take her longer, but her pokemon had grown tougher already, hadn't they? She just had to try harder, then go back for a rematch. "I know," she said to Bianca. "I'm going to go train some more! Thanks for all your help, Iris."

"Yeah, you're welcome," Iris said.

"I know you probably have to leave now," Bianca said.

"No, no one's called me yet," Iris said.

"But you still want to go check it out, right?" Bianca asked. "I mean, you could have a chance to see Zekrom."

Iris shook her head. "I don't want to miss any time with you at all, Bianca!"

Bianca blinked in surprise, then nodded. She smiled. Iris was so sweet, Bianca thought. It was nice to have a friend who liked spending time with her, even if Bianca knew she was no where near Iris's level. "I guess I should go apologize to those three for just rushing out," Bianca said.

"No need to bother," Iris said. "They know where you were headed. Just train some more and then go challenge them again! I bet you can beat them!"

Bianca nodded. "Yeah," she said. "Should we go train, then?"

Iris nodded. "Yeah! There's still plenty of time left in the day! I know a good spot to train, too," she said.

After getting her pokemon back, Bianca walked with Iris, chatting happily with her. Iris peered toward the gym/café as they passed. She sighed with annoyance. "Hmph, those guys can be so annoying. I bet Cress thinks he was being all cute and gentlemanly by taking it easy on you," Iris said.

Bianca was again surprised. "You think he was taking it easy on me?" she said.

"Yeah," Iris said, nodding. "He was for sure! I'd never insult a challenger like that. My challengers always get to face my full power with the pokemon I have on hand. No mercy if they're new or young or a girl or whatever."

"Oh," Bianca said. She was starting to feel all the less confident, wondering if she'd be able to beat Cress at all.

"His ego is showing big time, he's not that great a trainer himself. I bet his brothers all thought the same, your friends beat them no problem," Iris said.

"You mean Hilda and Cheren?" Bianca asked. Had they already been there and won?

"Yeah," Iris nodded. "I heard it from the receptionist at their gym. Cheren beat Chili. Then Hilda beat Cilan in like two minutes, but Cress still thought he needed to take it easy on you for being a girl."

Bianca frowned. She didn't think it was like that at all. Thinking through the battle, Cress only seemed to cut her some slack near the end. He switched to Panpour, and then had used a move that wasn't too damaging. It wasn't because he looked down on her per se, just that he knew he'd won and didn't want to hurt Tepig too badly. Bianca was grateful for that.

Bianca and Iris wandered into the decaying building. "Are you sure we're supposed to be here?" Bianca asked.

"Sure!" Iris said. "This is the Dreamyard, it's only good for pokemon training. There's some weird pokemon here though, so be careful."

"What do you mean?" Bianca asked.

"Um, their dream mist can have a weird effect on people sometimes," Iris said. In truth, she usually avoided this area because of that. But the pokemon were low-level enough for Bianca's to battle.

"Munna!" Bianca exclaimed.

"Oh, so you know about them?"

"Yes," Bianca nodded. "I've always wanted one... Do you think I could catch one?" she asked.

"Yeah, sure, there's really enough of them around here," Iris said.

"Wow!" Bianca said as she thought of it. Psychic types were always fascinating to her, and she'd been interested in Munna just from the few she'd met. The possibility of catching her own brought her right out of her dull mood. She entered the Dreamyard, pokeball ready.

Iris noticed that Bianca's enthusiasm had returned, and felt happy herself. She ran after her friend through the path of the Dreamyard. "Bianca? Bianca, where did you go?" Iris called. Deciding not to be too loud, Iris walked around the area, casually observing it. In the shadows, she thought she saw some movement, and made her way to the wall.

"Iris!"

Iris turned around as she heard Bianca's voice. She saw Bianca standing near the other end. She ran over there. "Bianca! There you are! See any pokemon around to catch?" Bianca just grinned as Iris asked her the question. "Bianca?" Iris said. Seeing Bianca smile at her, Iris started to get strangely relaxed.

"I'll do that later," Bianca said. She put her hand on Iris's chin. Iris backed away in shock as Bianca leaned forward to her, apparently ready to kiss her. She tripped and fell into the tall grass.

"Oh?" Bianca said, kneeling down to Iris's level. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean to surprise you."

"Yeah, I know, It's okay," Iris said, blushing as Bianca was all the nearer.

"I just wanted to know if I could kiss you, Iris."

"Well... Yeah!" Iris said. She grinned, and leaned toward Bianca this time, feeling blissful as she did. It was sudden, but it was something Iris had wanted to do with Bianca, she knew. That moment felt perfect, she was so relaxed, and the mood was just right.

"Iris?"

Iris blinked again, and looked to the side. On the path, Bianca stood with her Tepig, calling for Iris as she looked around. "Ah!" Iris said as she realized what had been happening. It was a territorial defence that the munna and musharna had. They would psychically take images in the subconscious to distract nearby humans and pokemon. Bianca and how Iris wished their relationship would develop had been thoughts that crossed Iris's mind very often recently.

Iris looked to the side. Now that she's been shaken out of her relaxed state, the dream Bianca had already dissipated. She should have known that something like Bianca kissing her wouldn't happen so suddenly. Naughty munna, Iris considered to herself.

The real Bianca had noticed her now. She walked over, then kneeled down in the grass where the dream version had been. "Are you feeling alright?" the real Bianca asked. She leaned forward.

"Um, yeah," Iris said, and scrambled to stand up.

Bianca stood up with her, and felt her forehead. "Hmm, it seems okay," she said.

"Yeah, it's fine, really!" Iris insisted. "Don't worry about me, I know you want to find a munna and train your pokemon."

"Oh, I have a munna already!" Bianca grinned, holding out the pokeball that she'd been carrying. "I think I've got the hang of catching pokemon now."

"That's great," Iris said.

"I think I'll do some training now," Bianca said. She looked at Iris worriedly as she said nothing. She'd normally be jumping in with suggestions or other comments at this point. "Are you sure you're alright?" she asked. "Do you want to go back?"

"Oh, no, I'm still going to stick around with you," Iris said quickly. "But... Um..." Iris paused. Should she tell Bianca how she felt? She did kind of want to, but only for the possibility of a positive reaction. Bianca could hate her for saying anything instead.

"Yes?" Bianca asked.

"Can I tell you something? It might be really, really weird, but I just want to say it!" Iris said.

"Go ahead," Bianca said, her eyebrow furrowed in concern.

"Oh, well, yeah..." Iris paused, looking away. Well, Bianca would be nice no matter what, wouldn't she? Yes, Iris was sure that her friend wasn't the type to scream and call her names. But just the same, Iris couldn't be completely sure of exactly what her reaction would be, could she? "Yeah, never mind," she muttered. "I just think you're a great friend."

"Thanks, Iris," Bianca said. "You're really sweet, I'm so happy I have you as a friend too."

Iris smiled. She felt her phone going off. Picking it up, she could see she had several messages. Drayden wanted to her to meet him in Castelia after all. She sighed. "I've got to get going," she said.

"Oh. Good luck with that Iris," Bianca said.

"Yeah. I'll see you soon. This is a pain, I really want to stay! But you know," Iris said. "Bye, Bianca!" Iris waved to Bianca as she ran off. Stupid rumors, she thought to herself. Well, she was curious about the phenomenon was that they blamed on Zekrom, though she hadn't wanted to mess up her plans to find out. She'd be finding out anyway, and if it was something silly maybe she could spend the rest of her planned time off with Bianca. Iris ran off at top speed thinking that.


	4. Duty

_Author's Note:_  
_Just a reminder that this is an animeverse crossover? Easier to forget on this side than the other fic, I thought, but becomes more apparent in this chapter._

* * *

**4**  
**Duty**

"Hey, Burgh!" Iris called out into the open gym as she walked in.

"Miss Iris, if you'd just have a seat, I'll call him for you," the attendant said.

"No, no need," Iris said, waving him off. She looked around Burgh's mess of a gym. Opelucid's was still the best in Unova, Iris was sure, but unlike the one she'd just been at, which was stylish at least, this one could be kind of messy. Iris sighed as she made her way through the gym.

"Excuse me, who's there? The gym is closed... Oh, Iris," Burgh said as he realized who was loudly entering the room.

"It's me alright. Is Grandpa here yet?" Iris asked.

"No, you're the first to arrive," Burgh said.

"Really?" Iris said, taking a seat on the bench as she took out her phone. No new messages. The last message was from Drayden from an hour ago, saying he'd be in Castelia soon. Still, Iris had beaten him there. She fidgeted impatiently.

"How has your training been going?" Burgh asked.

"Fine. I was taking a break from it," Iris said.

"Oh, it's too bad it was interrupted."

"Yeah, I know," Iris said. She sighed. "What's going on, anyway? What kind of flake is seeing visions of our famous dragons now?"

"Iris, I do believe there's merit to this sighting," Burgh said.

"Merit?" Iris said in an almost whine. "Come on, someone just wanted to be famous so they said they saw Zekrom."

"Though you might interpret other incidents like that, this one is different," Burgh said.

"How?" Iris asked.

"For one, there were many witnesses, myself included," Burgh said.

Iris sat up and looked at Burgh curiously. "So you really think you saw Zekrom?" she asked. Burgh was someone she'd believe right away when it came to this.

"Perhaps," Burgh said, a hand on his chin.

"Hmph," Iris again slumped over in her seat. "I'm really not trusting you when you put it like that."

"There was a boy the police tracked down who was at the center of the incident."

"Another glory seeker," Iris said.

"I don't really think so, Iris. This boy had only just arrived in Unova the day of the incident, and had never even heard of our legendary pokemon before."

"But he said it was Zekrom anyway?" Iris asked.

"Well, from his description, we might think it was."

Iris's eyes opened wide, and she grinned. Maybe it really was Zekrom. That would be awesome, Iris thought. She'd had all sorts of fantasies about meeting the legendary dragon pokemon since she'd first heard of them upon her own arrival in Unova. With Reshiram, the one that was also part fire type, she'd light up part of the world, turning it into a dragon paradise. Zekrom was pretty cool too, she'd enjoy flying high above the clouds with it, while it rained down powerful lightning attacks. She was a dragon master, she could befriend both of them, and make Unova a dragon pokemon's playground.

"Hey, Burgh!" Iris said. "Where's this kid who saw Zekrom, huh?"

"I'm not sure, but I believe he's already left Castelia for wherever his original destination was."

"What? You let him go?!" Iris demanded.

"Ah, well, Iris," Burgh began. "He was pretty cooperative, he told everyone-"

"I want to talk to him! I'll go find him!" Iris said. As she went to the door, she saw Drayden standing there.

"Iris," he said, looking at her with his serious expression.

Just with that, Iris knew right away what Drayden wanted her to do. She went and sat back down, sitting up straight in her seat at the table. Drayden sat down next her. Iris felt sheepish, she knew she'd been doing something wrong. Drayden always told her less was more when it came to these kinds of meetings. No one person should dominate the conversation in the room.

Iris mirrored Drayden's silence as Burgh greeted him, and then nodded along with him as Burgh quickly told Drayden about the incident. "What do you think we should do, Drayden?" Burgh asked.

"I already have my assistants analyzing any strange weather patterns nearby Opelucid, and we do have several other reports we're investigating," Drayden said.

Iris felt excited. "Then we'll go catch it, right?" she said.

"No, Iris," Drayden said.

"Befriend it?" Iris said.

"Iris, the fact is that these pokemon could be dangerous," Drayden began. "They were said to have enough power to create our region, so in the same manner they might destroy it. If Reshiram and Zekrom have returned, we need to track them and study them in order to understand them, and protect ourselves."

Iris nodded. She didn't want to think the legendary dragons were dangerous, though. "I guess people would be scared of them. I bet they're just looking for their heroes, though."

"That's a romantic idea, Iris," Burgh said. "It's also bittersweet as their heroes are long gone."

"They just need some new heroes then, huh?" Iris said. She began to daydream again. The heroes of legend were described as brothers - twins who loved fighting with each other. Iris thought of Reshiram and Zekrom returning, and her playing the part of both heroes. Then the legendary dragons could be used for all sorts of fun things rather than war.

"There are too many incidents to just ignore. We should continue to investigate," Drayden said. Burgh nodded seriously back at him. Iris brought herself out of her daydream and nodded as well.

Other gym leaders arrived, and Iris sat back and listened as they went over the Castelia incident as well as other incidents, both new and old. Iris sat back, interested. She tried not to daydream too much, though the idea becoming a reality was pretty thrilling. She tried to remain grounded in reality, and concentrate on Drayden's very real concerns for safety. Though it was fun to daydream about taming the mighty dragons, it just wasn't going to happen, Iris knew.

The meeting had gone on for an hour and a half before Iris started to really get bored. She knew better than to interrupt. Drayden also liked to keep things as brief as possible, and had previously told her that pointing out the time only dragged things on longer.

Finally, they were done. As Burgh announced it, Iris leapt to her feet. "Alright!" she said. She noticed that everyone turned their heads to her, and Lenora seemed to hide a laugh. Iris smiled awkwardly, feeling a little embarrassed.

As everyone left, Drayden approached her. "Iris, do you understand what your job is?"

"Sure, I know. Ask around the same as everyone else, right? I'm on it," Iris said.

"I know you're disappointed. If you're planning to idle, let me know now," Drayden said.

"No way," Iris insisted. She was Drayden's protégé, his dedicated disciple. Though she had the urge to 'idle' and go play around, she'd tamed it within herself out of her own desire to further her expertise and mastery of dragon pokemon training and become a well-respected trainer. Dedication and sacrifice were necessary.

Drayden nodded, not really doubting her dedication in the first place. "Call in often," he said.

"Sure. And if I see Zekrom or Reshiram on a rampage, I'll jump in and protect everyone," Iris said. And if she should happen to have a few pokeballs around...

"Iris, do not carelessly jump into a dangerous situation. Be careful," Drayden said seriously.

Iris nodded, a little perplexed by his warning. He knew that there were few, human or pokemon who could take her on. Did someone like Drayden seriously believe that some legendaries had returned, Iris wondered? It was weird. But despite her daydreaming, Iris wouldn't really take on some kind of god pokemon. She did know her limits.

* * *

Bianca clenched her fist as she arrived in the new town. She'd been training seriously, and both her tepig and lillipup had evolved, even. Her tepig was now a pignite, which stood strangely on two legs now. To Bianca, it looked kind of like a larger, misshapen tepig, but she couldn't mistake that it was more powerful now. Her pokemon was proud of its power, so Bianca would be as well.

Lillipup had evolved to a herdier. Bianca had never thought that herdier looked all that cute at all, but now that she had one of her own, she had changed her mind. Herdier held the same stoic expression that it has a tiny lillipup, but the evolved form made it resemble an old man. Bianca couldn't help but laugh, especially as she'd recently found out that her herdier was female.

Pignite, Herdier, Munna, and even a pansage that had been easily given to her made a nice team. Thanks to them, Bianca was feeling confident. Maybe not confident enough to go and challenge the Striaton gym again, but confident enough to move on and maybe challenge a new gym. Lenora's gym here in Nacrene was supposed to be a good challenge for new trainers as well. Bianca thought for sure she'd at least stand a chance.

So she walked into the elegant building. It was even nicer than the one in Striaton, Bianca considered. And the same as Striaton, it served a double purpose. Nacrene Gym was a museum in addition to a pokemon gym. Bianca wanted to look around and see the displays in addition to challenge Lenora.

So at first, she just wandered around the museum itself. She didn't really see signs of the gym anywhere. The butterflies in her stomach only increased in number, and she couldn't concentrate on enjoying the displays. Bianca went back up to the front desk. "Um, excuse me," she said.

"Yes, how may I help you?"

"I wanted to challenge the gym," Bianca said.

"Oh, I'm sorry," the woman said. "I'm afraid Lenora's out of town."

"Oh," Bianca said. Her excited anticipation went away, replaced by disappointment.

"I'm sorry, I'm not sure when she'll be back."

"Oh no, thank you," Bianca said, nodding politely at her. She wandered away, and now fully enjoyed what else was in the museum that doubled as a gym. There were plenty of nice displays, and interesting people to discuss them with. The experts present Bianca particularly liked to talk to. Then she saw a familiar face.

"Oh, Bianca," Cheren said. "I guess you've come here to challenge for the Basic Badge as well."

Bianca nodded. "Lenora's not around, though."

"It's disappointing, but I'm not going to wait around anymore. I'm going on to Castelia, where the next gym is. You really shouldn't waste too much time, either," Cheren said.

Bianca didn't really think she'd been wasting time, experiences like this were important, too. But Cheren was right in that their journey was for pokemon training in the first place. "Cheren, before you go, can we battle?" Bianca asked.

"Of course," Cheren said.

They stepped outside before they began. Bianca lost. It wasn't just by simple advantages such as type, though he did use his panpour to spray Pignite, it was also by skill. His Servine easily defeated the other three pokemon with no such advantage. Bianca frowned as she returned Munna to its pokeball.

"You're taking this seriously, aren't you?" Cheren said.

Bianca nodded. Cheren could be thoughtless sometimes when it came to the feelings of others in conversation, but that wasn't the case here. Bianca knew that Cheren could tell how hard she'd been training and was giving her a compliment. He was also humble in not pointing out that Bianca was no where near his level of skill.

"Well, good luck against Burgh in Castelia. He has nothing but bugs, so Pignite will have an advantage. You might avoid using Pansage or Munna."

Bianca nodded. She'd know all of that, but Cheren constantly sharing his knowledge was just another quirk of his. "Thanks, Cheren. Good luck to you too," Bianca said. "Oh, have you seen Hilda?"

"Yes, she's also been waiting around here," Cheren said. "Let her know she shouldn't wait around anymore if you see her."

"Okay," Bianca said. She gave her good-byes to Cheren before heading to the pokemon center. She'd stick around long enough to challenge Hilda, then go to Castelia herself. She could come back and challenge Lenora later, the same as she'd re-challenge the brothers in Striaton.

* * *

Everyone had a story, and Iris wasn't sure who to believe. Some people that she talked to claimed to have seen one or both pokemon. Others seemed to rack their brain thinking about what they might have seen that might have been the legendary pokemon. She did her best to take notes at first, but it got so tedious that she stopped.

Drayden's other foot soldiers should take care of all this, Iris thought to herself. If this was really happening, she wanted to be in the action. She wanted to talk to the kid who had a confirmed sighting of Zekrom, and get a clue that would let her find whatever 'Zekrom' was herself. Everything else she was doing was pointless.

So that was why the next rumor was irresistible to her. "Hmm, are you really serious about looking for those pokemon, Iris?" the older woman asked Iris as she walked around.

"Yeah, it's not a joke or anything. But it could be a hoax, or rumors gone out of control. Yeah, something like that," Iris said.

"Is that right? Well, I thought so too. My friend from Icirrus told me there was activity at the old tower nearby. It's just sensationalism, isn't it?"

"Really? She said that? What did she say?" Iris said, a new energy in her voice.

"I don't remember... Some strange weather patterns, some unknown figures at the top."

"Oh, wow! Thanks, Lady! I've got to go!" Iris ran off quickly. She was going to check this out. She sent a message to Drayden about her next destination, and then borrowed a flying-type from the nearby pokemon center. If either of those dragons were anywhere, she hoped they'd appear right in front of her. The spooky Dragonspiral Tower was the perfect setting for the ancient pokemon.

* * *

Bianca wandered through Pinwheel Forest. Pignite followed her. The place was full of pokemon, especially bug pokemon, and she wanted to train Pignite well for the upcoming battle. So she'd just wandered around there, challenging random bug pokemon.

She definitely needed to train. Hilda had beaten her easily. Bianca wasn't on the same level as Cheren, but Hilda was even better than him. Bianca could easily see the difference in talent. Though how she might use that to catch up to them and be as strong as them, she didn't know.

Hard work, Iris would say. Bianca wasn't going to give up, she was definitely going to work hard to help her pokemon be the best that they could. Iris was a very powerful pokemon trainer, and more experienced that Bianca and her friends that had just started. Had Iris started out as weak as she was, Bianca wondered? No, she didn't think so. Hard work played a part in her success, but Iris had been selected by Drayden, another powerful trainer, as someone with a lot of innate talent. Bianca, though she loved her pokemon, didn't share that talent.

Still, she'd try her best. Bianca wandered through the woods and tried her best to guide her pokemon. Her advice was often delayed, not immediate like Iris's. Though she wasn't as good as Iris, or even Hilda and Cheren, trainers could improve with time along with pokemon, couldn't they? Bianca was willing to try for the possibility.

Bianca heard some rustling and shouting in the distance. Pignite looked around, on alert. Whoever it was, they were making it hard to find wild pokemon to battle, as the pokemon around shied into hiding with the loud people around. "Excuse me," Bianca asked as they approached.

A woman and a man in uniform along with their unknown pokemon looked her way. "It's some twerp," the woman said.

"The twerp has some pokemon," the pokemon said.

As it spoke, Bianca raised her eyebrows, and jumped in surprise. "A talking pokemon?"

"That's right, I talk," the pokemon said with a shrug.

"Forget that, Meowth. We should be thinking of what we need to do," the woman said.

"That's right! Hey kid, do you have any pokemon?" the man asked.

"Yeah," Bianca said with a smile. "I have Pignite here plus three more." Bianca saw the humans reaching for their pokeballs. "Did you want to battle?" she asked.

"No," the woman shook her head. "Instead, how about you prepare for trouble!" She posed dramatically.

"And make it double!" the man said, also posing beside her.

"To protect the world from devastation," she continued.

"To unite all peoples within our nation," the man took his turn.

"To denounce the evils of truth and love."

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

As the two humans posed, two pokemon jumped out. "Meowth, that's right!" one said.

"Wobbuffet!" the newcomer spoke.

Bianca stared, confused. "Um..."

"Okay, twerp," the woman said. "Now it's time to hand your pokemon over."

Bianca took a step backward, feeling intimidated. These two apparently didn't have the best intentions. Bianca tripped as she tried to move away.

"Hey, make it easy why don't you," the talking pokemon said.

"Pignite!" Bianca's pignite said as it jumped in front of her.

"Pignite... Just wait..." Bianca said. She fumbled around for its pokeball. Then she'd be able to run away and ask for help from these strange people. But she couldn't find her pokeball quickly enough.

Pignite glared at the threatening group. "Pignite!" it said. It began the flame charge attack that it had been practicing with Bianca throughout the day.

"Wait, Pignite!" Bianca said, distracted from her search for its pokeball. She didn't want her pokemon to get hurt. "Don't attack them!"

"Wobbuffet, get ready." The woman nodded to her pokemon.

Pignite hesitated, but still didn't listen to Bianca as the large pokemon came closer to them. It began to attack Wobbuffet. Bianca winced, unsure of her training. She was surprised that Pignite was able to pull it off perfectly. She felt relieved as it hit, momentarily optimistic that she might get the upper hand.

"Wobbuffet, counter!"

Bianca shouted in surprise. She'd hardly seen the other pokemon's attack before it hit. Pignite was instantly unconscious. "No, no," Bianca said. She still tried to find its pokeball. Then she'd take it to the pokemon center. It would be able to get quick treatment there.

"There's one," the man said, covering Pignite with a net.

"And here's the rest!" the pokemon said, snatching Bianca's bag right from her hand.

"Wait!" Bianca said.

"It's heavy, Jessie. Help me carry it!" the man said.

"Idiot," the woman said. She had no problems with taking a pokeball from Bianca's bag as it was handed to her and returning Pignite. The group began to run off.

"Wait!" Bianca said. She ran after them, but then tripped again. Tears filled her eyes. She'd allowed her pokemon to be captured, all of them. She'd done hardly anything to protect them. Wasn't that her job as a trainer? Her pokemon protected her and she made sure they were happy, healthy, and safe. Would they be any of those with random pokemon snatchers?

Right then, she'd have to ask for help, Bianca concluded. She went for her xtransceiver, still on her wrist. She began to press the buttons with her shaky hands. Even if her pokemon couldn't count on her, there were still a few people that she could count on.

* * *

Iris stood confidently in front of the tower. She was surprised that the atmosphere was so peaceful there. She'd definitely seen some activity up at the top from the air, with lights flashing around at the top of the tower. But down at the base, the ancient site was a quiet as ever and it seemed like nothing was happening. There was a slight breeze over the water as Iris crossed the bridge to enter the ancient building. Everything was just silent otherwise.

Iris heard her phone going off. How annoying, she thought. If it weren't for the prospect of Bianca contacting her, she might just turn it off. Maybe she should for the rest of this trip, she considered.

It was Drayden, with a short message for her to contact him right away if she saw anything at the tower. Well, Iris thought, she wasn't really sure if she had seen anything. Drayden would likely tell her to wait for more people if she said she thought she'd seen something, and it might delay her investigation.

Iris didn't mind sharing the fun, but at the same time didn't want to wait to find out what was going on up there, if anything. She replied to Drayden that she sure would contact him right away with any news, and was going into the building. Then she turned off the device. Now it was just up to her to confirm what she'd seen.

Iris took out a pokeball. "Go, Haxorus!" she said. The pokemon let out a roar as it came out of its pokeball. Iris grinned and nodded. This might be a good place to train, but she wasn't going to mess around. It was time to use her number one pokemon. No pokemon was going to think to mess with them, and would soon be sorry upon challenging them.

"Hey Haxorus, we might run across some really powerful pokemon. You're gonna be ready, right?" Iris asked. Haxorus nodded in response. "Let's go then!" Iris said.

Iris ran forward quickly. She ought to pace herself, Dragonspiral tower just went up and up with lots of rubble in the way, but she was excited. She didn't really expect to see a legendary pokemon at the top. Maybe some weird cult members or something. But she still place some hope in the idea that she might. Yes, despite herself, she was starting to get all enthused about the idea.

She had to stop to climb up some large rubble. Haxorus helped her, and she had to catch her breath. "Are you excited? Reshiram and Zekrom are something like your powerful ancestors, huh?"

Haxorus roared in response. Iris nodded, her companion was just as enthused as she was. They kept climbing up and up. As she reached what she knew was the last staircase, Iris was sure she could see some sort of weird light shining down. Maybe it was just the daylight peaking down at them. But no, it seemed more like it might be from a campfire. Iris slowed down slightly now and put her hand up to order Haxorus to do the same. She tried to listen for what might be going on.

She could hear some general movement, and then saw the light increase. Iris stood up straighter. "Alright," she said to Haxorus. "Be on guard." Iris had two other pokeballs at the ready. Whoever it was wouldn't intimidate her and her dragons with just a little fire, but she wasn't going to underestimate them, either.

Iris motioned for Haxorus to walk in front of her. She maintained her full attention on her surroundings as she continued to walk up the staircase. As she came to the stop of her staircase, her eyes widened at the sight.

There was Reshiram. It was shocking for Iris to see. Despite her daydreams about meeting them and becoming best friends, she'd been the biggest skeptic of these pokemon actually having returned, if they'd even existed in the first place. Yet in front of her was what was undeniably Reshiram. There were so many depictions of it, she couldn't be sure what it really looked like, and yet, there was nothing else it could be.

Reshiram had noticed her and Haxorus. It stared down at her with its piercing blue eyes. If only it was a video, a show of trained pokemon, Iris would be stoked have such a magnificent dragon paying her mind. But Iris in the moment knew that this was a very powerful, possibly dangerous pokemon.

Even so, she stepped forward to it carefully, staring up at it steadily. Not even the fire-dragon type pokemon of legend would get to see her sweat, Iris concluded. "You're Reshiram, right?" Iris said to the large pokemon casually.

Reshiram continued to stare at her. It hardly seemed to notice that she'd spoken at all. It just looked at Iris like an bug, neither a threat nor nuisance, but something that had changed in its environment.

Iris took a deep breath. Drayden had praised her for her understanding of pokemon's hearts and feelings, and others had followed suit. They didn't know that Iris barely had any more understanding than they did. She could guess what pokemon were feeling from context, but certainly couldn't read Reshiram's cool expression. She took another step forward.

Reshiram moved now, walking around itself. Iris jumped in surprise, and Haxorus mirrored her. It then took a fighting stance, looking toward Reshiram aggressively. Reshiram glared at Haxorus in return.

"Stop!" Iris said firmly. Though she was getting nervous around the legendary pokemon, she was very confident in directing her own. Haxorus listened to her and backed away, dropping its aggressive fighting stance. Iris felt calmer, especially as Reshiram didn't respond. She smiled, regaining some of her confidence. "So, Reshiram," Iris said. "I bet you're looking for your hero, huh?"

Reshiram gave a short nod. Iris's eyes widened in surprise. She hadn't been expecting it to really respond. "Wow," Iris said. Had she imagined that it had? Well, Reshiram was alive and real in front of her, not a statue, so it wasn't really that weird. Iris frowned and shrugged. "You know your hero's dead, right?" she said.

Looking at Reshiram's blue eyes, Iris realized her mistake. The hero of truth would be a beloved person to Reshiram. Announcing a death so abruptly was rude. But still... "Humans don't really live that long, not thousands of years like you," Iris said. "Sorry," she added.

Reshiram had turn its back to her, now facing the hole in the wall. Its tail was no longer lit up, and it moved its arms, apparently ready to leave by flying. "Reshiram, wait!" Iris shouted. "I'm sorry about your hero. I can help you or something if you want."

Reshiram hesitated, and turned its head to her. "Don't worry. I'll find my hero in another," it said. Then the pokemon spread its wings. "And before my other half does."

Reshiram took off, loudly. Iris stood, watching it, dumbfounded. So much had happened that she hadn't been prepared for. Reshiram not only existed, but had returned, and had the telepathic skills to tell her that it was looking for its new hero. Iris clenched her fist. She wanted to just fly after it, but at that speed, her borrowed pokemon wouldn't be enough.

Before she began to daydream about chasing it with a dragonite, or maybe Zekrom itself, Iris took out her phone. She'd have to tell Drayden everything. But she wasn't sure where to begin. How could she say it without sounding like she was making up some kind of fairy tale?

Iris sighed, knowing he'd believe her. It was almost amusing to think of how Drayden would take this news absolutely seriously. As she began to talk to him, he did just that, and gave her further instruction. Iris tried to remain on task, but the pings on her phone distracted her. She eventually looked at them. "Oh no! Oh no!" she said aloud.

"Iris? What is it?" Drayden asked.

"I have to get going! My friend's in trouble, she ran into some bad people, and they stole her pokemon. I need to make sure she's okay!" Iris said.

"Keep me informed," Drayden said briefly, cutting off the conversation.

* * *

"So you weren't prepared for their foreign pokemon?"

Bianca finally reached the path after trudging through the dimly lit forest. Cheren's voice rang out to her over the xtransceiver, stressing her all the more. "No," Bianca said. "I'd never seen them before."

"Even if you don't know what they are, there are ways to figure out what to do and not do against them if you observe. Also, your pokedex-"

"Cheren, right now I just want my pokemon back!" Bianca shouted.

Cheren paused. "Sorry," he said when he continued. "I'll help search. I think I ran into this group that bothered you earlier. I'll double back and see if I can find them. Let me know if anything else happens."

"Thanks, Cheren," Bianca said. As the connection faded, she was again alone. She walked forward, feeling determined to do something. But if she found those thieves again, she couldn't do anything at all, except possibly just beg them. Doing that would be better than standing still, Bianca concluded. She kept walking down the path, moving toward where the forest would end. As it thinned out, she kept growing anxious as she couldn't see anything.

Then she thought she heard something. She looked around, unable to locate it. Eventually she saw it. Iris approached quickly on a braviary. She shouted to get Bianca's attention as she approached, then landed with grace. Landing gracefully, Iris got off then got off and faced Bianca seriously. "What did they look like? Where do you think they went?" she asked.

"Um, they had on some weird white uniforms with a big 'R' on them. They went this way, I think," Bianca said.

Iris nodded. She turned and faced her borrowed braviary. "Braviary, go look for those people, okay! That way!"

Iris still seriously ran forward, taking Bianca by the hand and dragging her along. Bianca watched her, noting her serious face. Despite her upset, she tried her best to mirror Iris's steadfastness, and put all her energy into keeping herself as attentive as her friend as they continued their pursuit.

Braviary came back to Iris. "Do you think you saw them?" Iris asked. Braviary nodded. "Well, lead us there, there," she said.

They kept walking down the path. Braviary circled a section off the path. "Go, Fraxure!" Iris said.

"Fraxure," Bianca said. It was the evolution of Axew, she knew.

"Fraxure, you remember Bianca, right?" Iris said.

"Fraxure," Fraxure nodded.

"Well, we're gonna get her pokemon back, so be ready to kick some butt," Iris said. She turned to Bianca. "Come on." Iris took Bianca's hand and led her into the tall grass inside, with Fraxure in front of them leading the way.

Bianca followed Iris silently. But as soon as she saw the people she'd seen before, she had to run again. "Hey!" Bianca called.

"Bianca, wait!" Iris said.

Bianca ran as fast as she could, and took only a moment to catch her breath as she reached them. Then she stood up straight and looked them in the eyes. "Please give me back my pokemon," she said.

The woman smirked at her. "You think you can order us around, twerp?"

"No," Bianca shook her head. "I know I can't make you do anything. Even when I had my pokemon, your's was better. Now I can just ask you to please give back my pokemon. I need to protect them."

"Too bad," the man said.

"Your pokemon now belong to Team Rocket!" the talking pokemon said.

Iris had caught up with them, stood to the side as she listened to the conversation. "You guys are jerks, huh?" she said.

"Hm?" the man looked her way.

The woman shrugged. "You're not the first to say something like that, kid."

"Bianca's really nice. You made a mistake. If you were going to mess with someone, you should have picked someone else," Iris said.

"We don't care about who's 'nice'," the woman insisted.

"Yeah! All pokemon belong to Team Rocket in the first place!" the man said.

"That's right," the pokemon said. "So kid, why don't you hand over your's?"

Iris smirked at their nonsense. "Yeah, I didn't mean you should have left her alone before she's just so nice," Iris said. She slowly held up her hand. "It's because she's the girl that I love, and I think I'm out of your league. Fraxure, go! Attack that meowth, dragon rage!"

"What?" Meowth froze up as the larger pokemon approached. "Oh, no. This pokemon isn't around for that kind of fight! Jessie, James, you two better get ready!"

"Go, Arbok!" Jessie said. "Arbok, wrap!" she said, pointing at Fraxure. Arbok intercepted as Meowth ran away, and wrapped around the pokemon. Fraxure used its dragon rage attack and knocked it out right away. Jessie frowned and returned it to its pokeball. "Go, Wobbuffet!" she said, throwing out the next pokeball.

"Wobbuffet!" Wobbuffet said.

"Wobbuffet, get that twerp's pokemon!" Jessie said.

"Wobbuffet," Wobbuffet nodded.

"Iris, watch out. That one's super powerful," Bianca said.

"Hm, a wobbuffet, huh?" Iris said. "I've got this. Fraxure, dragon dance!"

Fraxure performed the complicated move as the thieves look on. They worriedly chatted with each other before Iris's opponent turned back to her. "Wobbuffet, get ready to counter," she said. Fraxure continued the dance, Wobbuffet just stood there. "Come on, just attack if you're going to attack already!" her opponent demanded.

"I will," Iris promised. "But you know it'll probably hurt your pokemon, there. I guess you don't know who I am, but I'm a pretty powerful, well-known trainer around here."

"You think you're some kind of hotshot?"

"Hey, I'm not saying this to brag, just so I'm not bullying you without you knowing anything," Iris said. She noticed that the two humans, especially the woman, seemed to take offence with this, recoiling and scowling as she spoke. Yes, she'd even treat the bullies themselves fairly. "That's her's, right?" she said, noting the bag in Meowth's hand. "Just hand it over and we're good."

The woman clenched her fist. "You think you can beat us, twerp? Just try it," she dared.

Without hesitation, Iris pointed toward. "Dragon tail," she said to Fraxure.

Fraxure's attack sent not only the poor blue pokemon, but the whole team flying. Iris motioned to the braviary, who went and snatched Bianca's bag before it fell to the ground. Iris caught it with grace. Then she spun around happily, completely changing her demeanor. "Here, Bianca! I got it for you!" she said happily.

Bianca nodded. "Thank you, Iris," she said, looking through her bag. "I have to get Pignite to the pokemon center right away. That one pokemon really hurt it."

"Right," Iris said, nodding. "Here, take Braviary. I'll go on foot to the next town."

"Thanks so much, Iris," Bianca said, smiling though she still felt awful. "It's so lucky you were around to help."

Iris nodded and smiled. Bianca quickly left. As much as she'd like to run after her and celebrate the success, Iris had other things to do at the moment. She took out her phone, planning to call Drayden right away.

* * *

Bianca sat on a hill inside Pinwheel Forest, enjoying the breeze and atmosphere. She also felt safe, as around the way, she could hear the martial artists she'd made friends with practicing smashing rocks with their pokemon. In front of her, Herdier, Pignite, and Pansage practiced the same, having been just taught the move. Bianca sat and hugged Munna, who hadn't been able to successfully learn it as they watched.

She'd just called Cheren on her xtransceiver to tell him about the spot she'd found. She told him all about the fun group of people she'd met and how much fun they'd had teaching their pokemon the move. "Oh, rock smash?" Cheren had said. "It's really not that powerful. I don't think it will be all that helpful to you. Maybe to Pignite, since it's part fighting type, and can make best use of a fighting type move. But it's useless to the others. And there are better fighting type moves for Pignite to learn later."

Was it really useless? Bianca wondered this as she sat and watched her pokemon having fun practicing the move. It was useful in that they were having fun. It was useful that she had met some interesting people and pokemon that she definitely wouldn't have not having been on this journey. It was fine just to sit and enjoy things like this, wasn't it? It was just fine to be happy and enjoy events as they came.

Except it wasn't alright at all. Bianca had thought, both at the time and now a few days later, how she could have responded better to what had happened. If she'd known more about pokemon, she could have instructed Pignite better in the battle. If she'd trained Pignite harder, it would have been able to handle itself in battle. If she had been more wary of the suspicious people, she could have avoided the group somehow.

Those kinds of what-ifs and others ran through her mind. She tried to push them away because they made her anxious and sad, but at the same time thought she really should feel those things. Things had been alright then because Iris was so powerful, but was it alright for her to just depend on others? If that was the case, why was she a trainer in the first place?

"Munna," Munna said. Bianca let go of it and it floated over toward the others. Pignite had been beating the others, easily smashing several rocks in a row into many pieces. "Muu," Munna said. Its eyes glowed, then Pignite glowed momentarily as well.

"Pignite?" it said with some confusion.

"Hey, that's not nice, Munna," Bianca said, recognizing its lucky chant attack. It would limit Pignite's blows.

"Munna!" Munna insisted. Herdier scowled and Pansage kicked one of the broken rocks.

"I know it doesn't seem fair, but others are just better than us sometimes," Bianca said. "Just try your best, and don't be poor sports, okay? It's just a game, anyway."

As Bianca finished, Herdier cuddled close to Bianca, its actions betraying what its serious expression covered up, disappointment. Bianca pat Herdier on the head reassuringly and it seemed to calm. She nodded at all of them. Their momentary disagreement seemed to be over.

Yes, this was just a game, but her being a trainer wasn't. She couldn't just put away her pokemon in frustration if things got difficult. And it wasn't fair to just rely on others. Even so, Bianca still hadn't found out what she could do to adequately improve.

"Hey!" a shout rang through the air.

Bianca waved and smiled as she saw her protector. Iris approached with Fraxure behind her. She ran faster than even her pokemon, and then tackled Bianca with a hug. "Oh," Bianca said in surprise. "It's good to see you, Iris."

"Yeah, I'm glad I caught up. Are you doing better, Bianca?"

"Yes," Bianca nodded. "It's good I can rely on you."

"Yeah, you can! I'll protect you forever!" Iris said.

Bianca smiled and nodded. "You're so sweet, Iris," she said. She didn't really take Iris's words literally. Bianca knew her friend had her own life and other duties, she couldn't always count on Iris to jump in and save her.

Iris blushed. "Yeah, I really will!" she said. "No more bullies better mess with you, because I-" Iris stopped herself. She was getting all flustered. She'd even said to those bad guys that Bianca was the girl she loved. Had Bianca even noticed it then? Iris made a noise of frustration as she thought of how she'd embarrassed herself.

"Are you alright, Iris?" Bianca asked.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Iris insisted.

"Are you sure?" Bianca asked.

"I really am... I just feel so embarrassed," Iris said.

"Why?" Bianca asked, confused. What did a girl like Iris have to be embarrassed about? She didn't have much to be feel shameful over, being one of the most powerful, well-respected trainers in Unova.

"You know, you heard me the other day, when I took care of those thieves," Iris said.

Bianca nodded. "You were really fired up! It was awesome to see. It was very heroic, your act was so cool."

Iris nodded. She liked what Bianca had just said to her, but at the same time didn't want to just leave it at that. "It wasn't just acting," she said.

"Oh, no," Bianca insisted. "I didn't mean it like that." Bianca knew Iris as she was right then in front of her, and also saw how serious she became at times, especially when it came to pokemon and pokemon trainer. She understood that both versions of Iris were real, even though she'd just called one an 'act'.

"I really, um, I do... I really meant it!" Iris said. She paused, and Bianca looked at her, seeming a little confused. "I mean, didn't you hear it? I said you were the girl I loved."

"Yeah." Bianca nodded. Dramatic lines like that had her thinking it was an act.

"It's true. I really, really love you. Like I want to be your girlfriend," Iris said. Then she blushed again, looking away from Iris and shaking her head. "Ah, I mean, just because I like you doesn't mean I think you have to be my anything! I just do! I really like you!" Iris looked away shamefully.

"Iris," Bianca said. Iris still looked away shyly, so Bianca tapped her on the shoulder. Iris eventually looked at her again, frowning. Bianca smiled, a little amused that she was so vulnerable. "Iris, what is it?" she said.

"I know, you think I'm weird," Iris said.

"No," Bianca shook her head. "Please don't be upset."

"I'm not, I'm really not," Iris insisted, despite her queasy stomach and continued frown. "I'm sorry, Bianca."

"Um... You don't really have to be," Bianca said.

"You don't think I'm weird?" Iris said.

"Not really," Bianca said. "It's just a little different than usual, right?"

"Yeah," Iris said quickly. "I'm just a little different, and I'm in love with my best friend, but we can still be friends, right?"

"Yeah," Bianca said, smiling. "So you want to be my girlfriend? Let's be girlfriends, then."

Iris's eyes widened. "But I mean like girlfriend girlfriends," she said.

"Yeah, I know," Bianca said. "I've never tried anything like that before. Even if it doesn't work out, we'll still be friends, right?"

"Right!" Iris insisted happily. "Wow, Bianca, you're the best!"

Bianca was prepared for Iris's hug this time, and hugged her back. "You really are a sweetheart, Iris," she said.

"Not like you, Bianca. You're one of the sweetest people ever!" Iris said. She looked away a moment, blushing. "Um..."

"Yes?" Bianca said, pleased that Iris thought so highly of her.

"Um, well, could I kiss you?" Iris said. "I mean, I guess it might be too sudden or something," she added in a mutter.

"Why not?" Bianca said.

Iris felt excited as she agreed. She was already close to Bianca, so she just leaned in and kissed her on the lips fairly quickly. It was felt warm and nice, but maybe a little too wet. Iris loosened her grip on Bianca and slipped completely to the ground. It wasn't the best first kiss, but Iris still liked that Bianca had been so open to her in the first place. Had she thought similarly? Bianca's pleasant expression hadn't really changed, in fact she giggled at Iris's position.

Iris turned her head. "Ah, all the pokemon were watching all that," she said, embarrassed.

"I don't think so," Bianca said. Her pokemon were far more interested in their new friend, Iris's Fraxure, than whatever she and Iris were doing together. "You're so cute, Iris. But you should just relax. I do like you, you know?"

Iris nodded. This had been the best turn of events. When planning it out in her head, she'd had all sorts of fantasies, but in general just hoped that Bianca wouldn't hate her for her feelings. Instead, Bianca had accepted her, leaving her feeling happy, yet even more awkward about it than her. Bianca was right. She should just be happy with what had happened.

Iris jumped up with a sudden burst of energy. "Alright! Let's get some practice done while I'm here!" she said, clenching her fist. Fraxure turned away from the idle play and mirrored her stance and also stood up straight, mirroring her new focus. Like dominos, Bianca's pokemon followed suit.

Bianca grinned and nodded. Iris would be Iris, spending little time on dawdling. Bianca knew she should be the same. Maybe she'd be able to learn a lot from Iris, and be just as powerful as her. At the very least, Bianca wanted to be self-reliant, a person who Iris wouldn't need to be around to protect. She stood up and got ready to practice.


	5. The Edge of Certainty

**5**  
**The Edge of Certainty**

Bianca stood in front of Elesa, on her last pokemon. Munna floated in front of her, waiting for her command. Elesa and her pokemon were both so elegant. Bianca wasn't sure she could really win, but maybe with this command. "Munna, hypnosis!" she said.

There was no way that Emolga could see the psychic waves, but it almost seemed to as it swooped around, completely unaffected by Munna's attempted attack.

"Emolga, aerial ace!" Elesa ordered.

Even if she'd ordered Munna to, it wouldn't have been able to avoid the fast attacking pokemon. Munna could only float around, and soon got hit. "Munna, defence curl," Bianca ordered. If Elesa was going to lead an unyielding offensive attack, she'd just allow Munna to take all the damage better. It seemed alright as Emolga repeated the previous attack. "Alright Munna, psybeam!" Bianca said.

Munna let loose the colorful attack, and it hit Emolga right on. "Emol?" the pokemon said, suddenly floating around just as slowly as Munna. "Emol?" It appeared alarmed, swinging its head to see something behind it.

Alright, Bianca thought. This was something she'd been hoping for. Munna's psybeam would sometimes cause confusion. So despite their inexperience, she and Munna had gotten the advantage in this battle.

"Emolga, return," Elesa said. Emolga was pulled back into its pokeball.

Bianca blinked in surprised. Yes, she could do that... But part of the rules of the gym battle were that she couldn't switch out her pokemon. So, she'd just given up that emolga altogether. It was fine.

"Emolga, it's your turn!" Elesa said.

Again, Bianca was confused, but then nodded to herself. Elesa had more than one Emolga. "Munna-" Bianca began, but then stopped. Munna was glowing, seeming to start one of its attacks without Bianca's order. "Munna?" Bianca said, blinking in surprise. Munna hadn't been disobedient before.

"Mu..." Munna began, still glowing. Maybe it was powering up a really large attack.

"Oh, congratulations. I'll give you a moment," Elesa said.

Bianca eventually realized what was happening, and her smile widened. Munna was evolving. It glowed brighter before it eventually finished, and then curled up as its final form, Musharna. "Wow!" Bianca exclaimed. "Munna- No... Musharna!" she said. Then she realized where she was, and looked at Elesa sheepishly. Elesa seemed to hide a giggle. "Musharna, psybeam!" she said, hoping to go to the same conclusion as before.

The psybeam hit, and the other emolga winced, but it wasn't enough. Another few more hits from that Emolga, and Bianca sighed. She called for the battle to stop. That was an automatic loss, of course. The third gym battle in a row she'd lost, after Cress there had been Burgh, who was in a completely different league as her. Elesa was as well, really. Yet Hilda and Cheren had already earned badges from them both.

Bianca took a deep breath and walked out onto the field. She showed a happy expression to her pokemon as she touched it. "Musharna, thank you. I know you did you best. And it's great that you evolved!" she said.

"Musha!" Musharna said happily.

Bianca nodded at it, then returned it to its pokeball. As Elesa walked up to her, she stood up straight, then nodded at her. "Thank you for the battle," she said.

"Oh, thank you for the battle as well, Bianca," Elesa said.

Bianca blushed and fidgeted. Elesa was a pretty cool person. To speak so casually to that kind of person was pretty amazing to Bianca.

"So, do you plan to visit anywhere else in the city?" Elesa asked.

"Y-Yes," Bianca said. "My gi- My friend was going to visit with me, but she had to leave. But I just know it's going to be a lot of fun. I'm going to the pokemon musical next."

"Good luck. I think you'll do well, actually. Would you like one of my extra prop cases?"

"Oh, wow!" Bianca said. She'd been a big fan of Elesa for a while. It was awesome that she was being so friendly. "I mean, thank you, it's very nice of you to offer. But I don't want to take something like that."

Elesa shrugged. "It's alright. I have a lot of them, and I replaced some of my older ones with some limited edition versions. I have a whole stack I'm not using, and I've been looking to get rid of them. I'd like to see you try it out.

"Ah, th-thank you very much," Bianca said. She couldn't take much more of this attention, even though she loved it.

"If you want a rematch later, I'll be glad for that as well," Elesa said.

"Yes, thank you!" Bianca said. Despite her reaction to Elesa, she did remember that she had a girlfriend. She turned on her xtransceiver. There were several messages from Iris that she hadn't noticed before, wishing her luck on her upcoming gym battle. Iris then added several other messages, about how she didn't think Elesa was that great anyway and had beat her easily the one time they'd battled.

Bianca smiled despite herself. She messaged Iris back a short thanks and then turned her attention to Elesa's assistant who handed her the case, which she noticed was full of props, much more than a starter set would be. She had a quick conversation with the assistant, and would be sure to send Elesa herself a thank you letter later.

Then it was time to leave. Bianca looked at the rollercoaster car warily. It had been frightening on the way in, but still fun in a way. Maybe she could share the experience. There was only one of her team it might be appropriate for, though. "Pansage, go!" she said. Pansage appeared next to her from the pokeball, and then looked around the darkened area, before looking up at Bianca questioningly. "Um, Pansage, do you want to ride with me?

Pansage jumped up and down with excitement, nodding in affirmation. Bianca belted it in carefully, then cautiously stepped in herself. The thing took off before she was properly ready. Still, she screamed happily along with pansage, who also enjoyed it. When it stopped, she had just crawled out and returned Pansage when the Xtransceiver went off. She fumbled around and answered it before seeing who was calling.

"Ah- Bianca! You're in Elesa's gym!" Iris realized, seeing the lighting effects around her.

"Yeah," Bianca said, peering back at Iris's image and seeing she was in her own well-lit gym.

"I'm sorry! You go for it, I didn't want to interrupt!"

"No, it's okay," Bianca assured. "I just finished battling her."

"And?" Iris asked, leaning forward into the camera.

"Oh, well, I lost," Bianca said sheepishly.

"Oh," Iris said. "Well, don't worry! I'll help you train some more."

"Thanks, Iris," Bianca said. "I'll get back to training soon... But first I'm going to enjoy Nimbasa for a while. I'm even going to try the pokemon musical!"

"Oh wow, wow, I want to see it! Will you wait for me... No, you don't have to wait for me," Iris said, though she looked conflicted.

"We can do something together when you have the time."

"Okay! Yeah!" Iris said. "How about we go on the Ferris wheel? Yeah! That's it! Don't go on it without me, okay?"

Bianca nodded. "Okay, Iris. Good luck with everything's that's going on."

"Thanks, Bianca. It's really kind of serious, but I'd way rather be there with you. I mean, I can't, but, you know."

"Mm hmm," Bianca said, nodding as Iris continued.

"Thanks, Bianca! You won't go without me, will you? Well, I've got to go. See you!"

"Bye, Iris," Bianca said. Iris had been going out of her way to call or message her all the time. All the attention was flattering, and Bianca really liked it. Iris was adorable, super supportive, and fun to be around. Bianca knew many trainers who were jealous of Iris, so successful and respected at her young age, but just couldn't feel the same. Iris would always be the awesome, loving girl in her eyes, one that always inspired her to do her best as well. Though it was pretty frustrating not only to be behind Iris, but the rest of her friends as well.

Bianca pushed those unpleasant thoughts to the side for the moment. She was going to concentrate on the entire experience of traveling outside her home. That didn't only including battling and getting stronger, but also meeting a lot of different people. The people in this city had already been so nice. Bianca put Pansage's pokeball back in her bag and picked up another one. Pignite might be the pokemon who would enjoy the musical most. Bianca smiled happily and went for the door. After a quick trip to the pokemon center, she'd head right over to the theater.

* * *

Iris sat on the head of the dragon path, watch her pokemon leap back and forth. The path swung as the pokemon went back and forth. Fraxure was less steady on its feet than the other two, but learning though both practice and example as it jumped back and forth. Iris watched them carefully, unaffected by the shouts of other trainers around the gym, and even the fire attacks that went off nearby.

"Good," Iris eventually said. Haxorus and Druddigon stopped their exercise and took the cue to just show their attention. Fraxure almost tripped up a moment as the pace change, but then stood dutifully in front of Iris with the others. "You guys are all going to be my regular gym team, alright? We're gonna mirror Drayden and his when we're acting as the main challenge in the gym."

"Fraxure!" Iris's newest pokemon smiled, unable to hide its pleasure. The other two stood silently, continuing to listen.

"I'm counting on you guys, alright? We're gonna be challenged, but we've got to show everyone else just as much of a fun challenge, you know?" Iris said.

"Fra-" Fraxure was interrupted as the other two pokemon roared loudly to show their dedication.

Iris had a wide grin. "Alright! The first challenger should be here any day, no, any second now!" Iris said.

"Iris!"

Iris looked at the entrance, and her pokemon also peeked their heads backward. The incoming sunlight obscured the figure, but Iris could recognize the voice easily before Drayden even walked in. "Hey! Grandpa!" Iris said. She jumped off her platform, sliding down the stone dragon path. As she leapt over to the next path, her pokemon began to follow.

Iris took all of the shortcuts, not at all following Drayden's carefully designed puzzle. She finally swung off the edge, and finally right in front of Drayden. Her pokemon followed, Haxorus and Druddigon taking their place by her side. Fraxure was last, and bumped Haxorus slightly. Haxorus got in an offensive stance. Iris glared back at it, and the tension dropped as quickly as it had risen.

Iris smiled and folded her arms. "Hey, Grandpa," she greeted him casually. "We're ready! We'll give every challenger the best challenge they could hope for!"

"That will have to be delayed, Iris," Drayden said.

"What? Wait, I'm ready, I really am, I've practiced. Do you want a battle? I'm ready for any kind of test!" Iris said. As she spoke, her pokemon mirrored her determination behind her, tensing up and getting into a defensive stance.

"Iris, I have no doubts you're ready," Drayden said. "However, your first battles will have to be delayed, considering you were the one who saw Reshiram in the tower. You will be available to answer questions about your firsthand experience yourself."

"Oh, okay," Iris said, suddenly relaxing. She turned to her pokemon. "Sorry, guys. I got you all excited for nothing," she said. She noticed they were slumped over in disappointment. "Hey, cheer up! We'll be back soon, anyway. Right?" Iris turned to Drayden questioningly.

"Correct. After you've finished, I expect you to go right back to your new duty."

Iris nodded seriously. She'd been looking forward to acting as the gym leader, and wouldn't be lax. Drayden had said that her team equaled his. It was a real accomplishment. But she as a trainer also had to equal him. She'd prove she was in every way worthy.

Fraxure nodded in imitation of her, though it was the only pokemon to do so. Fraxure froze seeing this, then sighed. Iris turned around and faced them. "Alright! We'll see just how many challengers we can beat when everything's done!" Iris said. Iris took out all three pokeballs and returned the three pokemon all at once. She spun around and faced Drayden again. As they left the gym, she listened carefully to his explanation of what they would be doing. Hearing they'd be going back to Castelia, her mind began to wander.

"Hey, Grandpa?" Iris began. "Is it okay if I make just a little detour along the way? It's kind of close by."

"Use your best judgment, Iris," Drayden said, neither approving nor forbidding her request. "Just be sure to be there on time," he added.

"Right!" Iris said. Of course she'd be there on time, they had plenty of time before the meeting. Iris began to day dream about Bianca. She didn't really like the fact that they'd never been able to finish their visit, and also wanted to check up on Bianca and make sure she was alright with all of the disappointments she'd had lately. Just the idea that they'd be close, even for a little bit, that fueled her excitement.

"I'm gonna leave tonight," Iris said to Drayden. "I'll be on time for sure. I've gotta get ready now!" Iris ran off quickly to their home, thinking of her plans along the way.

* * *

Bianca left the theater excitedly. Pignite followed, its head covered in colorful flowers and bows. The musical had really been fun. The people there were great, letting her in on their event. It was great to sit and listen to everyone's thoughts on the matter and experiences and then make the whole thing into reality. She might try it again, but there was really so much left to do in her travels. Maybe a day or two more in Nimbasa wouldn't hurt.

Bianca's spirits were at the highest they'd been since starting out on her journey when she heard it. "Bianca!" the man called. Bianca spun her head around, looking for who'd called her. She located him right away, running across the footbridge.

"Daddy..." Bianca said. She tensed up, seeing her father's serious expression. She knew he wasn't there because he just happened to drop by. Pignite's smile also dropped, and it looked at its trainer with concern. It almost tripped as it tried to keep up with Bianca, who ran up to her father right away.

"Bianca, I'm glad I've found you," he said when they caught up with each other.

"Is everything alright?" Bianca asked.

"Well..." Bianca's father began hesitantly. "I'd heard you were all the way out here. Don't you think it's time to come back home?"

Bianca recoiled. She frowned and took a step back. Her emotions had changed from concern to disgust just with that question. Still, she didn't respond right away.

"I know you wanted to do this trainer thing, but you've done enough already, haven't you? It's time to go back.

"No," Bianca said. "I'm on a journey with my pokemon, and there's still a lot left to do."

"Bianca, you know you need to go home! Hasn't it been dangerous enough for you already? I heard you were attacked in the forest."

Bianca paused a moment. He was right, that had happened. It had been frightening and frustrating. But the reaction to give up and go home was entirely her father's. She'd never thought that herself for a second.

"So then Bianca, let's-"

"I'm not going to go home!" Bianca insisted. "Haven't you heard me, Papa? I'm not finished yet."

"Bianca," Bianca's father began with a sigh. "I know your friends wanted to do this kind of thing, but this isn't you, is it? You don't have to prove anything by continuing on with this."

Bianca frowned. "It's me me?" Bianca repeated. "This is me! I wanted to do this myself, not because of anyone else. I'll keep it up because I want to."

"But how are you going to protect yourself if you run into those kinds of types again? What about all the other dangerous things around? It's not all fun, this pokemon training thing, you know!"

"I know," Bianca said. "I know all about it, Papa. I'll deal with it all as it comes around. When anything comes up, I'll figure something out."

"And what if you can't?" Bianca's father asked. Bianca paused, not responded. "Just come home, Bianca! Can't you understand that I just don't want you to get hurt?"

"I do!" Bianca said. "So can't you try and understand me too?"

"Come on, Bianca. Let's just go."

"No," Bianca said. "Good-bye, Papa," she said, turning her head, then began to walk quickly down the Nimbasa streets.

"Nite!" Pignite said, then followed her.

Bianca felt tears coming into her eyes. He was right, he was absolutely right. If she stayed out here and continued, she'd probably get hurt again. She'd fail to protect her pokemon again. No matter how much she wanted to be a strong trainer like Iris, Hilda, and Cheren, maybe she couldn't ever be.

But still, Bianca wasn't willing to accept his solution as the only possible outcome. She knew her father loved her and cared about her, but never found his vision of her future appealing. He praised her for her kindness and other feminine qualities, and often told her that she'd be a good wife and mother someday. From one protected home to another, he wanted her to go. Bianca really didn't think that far into her future, but wasn't going to let her father decide it one step after the other. She was going to make her own decisions starting from right here.

Even now, Bianca wasn't sure what she could do for herself, for her friends, and her pokemon, but she'd figure it out. And it would be by her own decisions, such as right now when she'd decided to continue with her travels. Yes, her father was right. The world could be dangerous and unwelcoming. With all the wonderful people she'd met, there were just as many terrible people. Life was full of lots of disappointment. So in her search for her place, her conclusion might not be satisfying, but it would be one that she'd reached herself.

Bianca finally paid some attention to her xtransceiver, which had been constantly going off. "Bianca? Bianca?" her father said as she answered.

"Papa?" Bianca said.

"Listen, you can have some more time if you want. But I want you to come home soon. Can you promise me that?"

"No," Bianca said. "Papa, I understand what you're thinking, I really do. But I am being careful. I have a lot of wonderful friends to help me," Bianca said. She continued describing her experiences to her father, unwavering in her decision. She'd already made it, she just wanted him to be comfortable with it as well.

By the end of the conversation he wasn't, but had grudgingly accepted her convictions for the moment. Bianca didn't feel any better hanging up with him. It was a wholly unsatisfying conversation. She sighed, then noticed her xtransceiver continued to go off. Hadn't he given up by now, Bianca wondered?

Then she noticed the messages weren't from her father, but Iris. Iris was going to rush down to Nimbasa on her way to Castelia and spend some time with her. Bianca smiled a moment, some of her heavy feelings starting to lift. She messaged Iris back that she was free and would be happy to join her.

* * *

"Bianca!" Iris called. She ran across the park, and to Bianca who was waiting on a bench for her. She hugged her right away, squeezing her tightly. "Oh my gosh, Bianca! It's been a mess all over Unova, even at my gym! Just because of this whole thing," Iris said.

"Oh, it sounds tough," Bianca said. They'd spoke about the appearances of Reshiram and Zekrom before.

"But I'm so happy I could see you! Even for a little bit! It'll be fun. Let's go, let's hurry and have some fun!" Iris said.

Bianca felt some happiness as Iris dragged her across the park, toward the waiting line in the Ferris Wheel. As they waited, Iris just hung onto her arm silently. It was kind of peaceful. Bianca enjoyed it. It was nice to just spend some time around someone who was happy to be around her, and vice-versa.

Then Iris noticed a sign. "Oh? A pokemon that can sit on your lap can ride, but not any others. Too bad my axew evolved, otherwise it could ride with us. Do you still have any pokemon that can?"

Bianca paused a moment in thought. Her pansage might be considered alright by the attendant, and it had enjoyed the ride in Elesa's gym before. Maybe they could...

No, Bianca thought to herself. Would something like that help her pokemon or herself at all? Probably not, Bianca thought. Though she went out of her way to do things like that for her pokemon, there might be no point to it.

"Hey, Bianca?" Iris said. Her girlfriend was unusually quiet.

"Oh, um, no, I don't think I'll have any pokemon ride with us," Bianca said.

"I see," Iris said. Even hearing Bianca's explanation, she was still bothered by something. Then she just smiled. "That's right! It's a romantic thing for the two of us, huh?" she said in a whisper.

"Yeah," Bianca said, and smiled. Though it hadn't been her original reasoning, she liked it better. She had the feeling of butterflies in her stomach as Iris moved closer to her.

They got on together, and watched the beautiful sunset outside together as they rose up above the ground together. Iris squeezed Bianca's hand, and Bianca squeezed it back, remaining in the moment with her. "It's really pretty, huh?" she said.

"Yeah," Iris said. She wanted to move closer to Bianca, but was unsure if she should or not. She sheepishly looked toward her, then saw her frowning again. It was really a depressed expression. "Bianca," she said.

"Hm?" Bianca said, looking toward Iris. Her smiled appeared again.

Iris smiled back, but didn't forget how she had appeared before. "Something's wrong, right?" she said.

"Oh," Bianca said. So Iris had noticed somehow. "Well, um, there is, but it's not that important," she said.

"It is though, right? Since it keeps bothering you?" Iris said. Bianca's smile now seemed a little awkward, and she turned away. "I mean, well, you can talk to me about it anytime, you know," Iris said. Bianca was cheerful most of the time, but that wasn't why Iris liked her. She liked her just for being her, and wasn't going to deny the Bianca that was sad.

Bianca nodded. "Thanks, Iris," she said. Then she sat a moment in silence. Bianca really did appreciate the sentiment, but wasn't sure where to begin when it came to what was actually bothering her. It was kind of complicated. But she supposed she'd begin with what had triggered it. "My dad was here today. In Nimbasa."

"Oh?" Iris said. Bianca's family always seemed kind of close, Iris had thought. At least closer than her own. But Bianca didn't seem that happy about him having been there. "It's kind of far to go just to visit," Iris commented.

"Yeah," Bianca said with a nod. "He came all this way just to tell me I shouldn't have. That I should go home with him." She frowned as she said it, and wished she'd brought out her pokemon to hug. That Iris squeezed her hand seemed even more comforting. Bianca gave her a brave smile.

"Are you going to?" Iris asked.

"What do you think, Iris?" Bianca asked. She was going to make her own decision, but decided that Iris was someone she could trust to ask this kind of question, though Bianca knew well that she might get an answer she didn't like. "I'm not really very good at training. Not like you and Hilda. Should I go home?"

"No way!" Iris said right away. Then she paused. She might seem a little pushy. "Um, well, I mean, it's up to you... But I don't think you're a bad trainer at all! You're dedicated, just like me! Just keep training and you'll be awesome!"

Bianca nodded hesitantly. She really did appreciate Iris's sentiments, but knew that what she was saying wasn't quite right. Bianca not only wasn't up to par with the best kind of trainers, like Iris herself, but also those who had just started, like Hilda and Cheren. It wasn't for lack of trying, though. "Thanks, Iris," Bianca said. "But I just don't think I'll ever be as good as I need to be."

"For what?" Iris said. "You're already good enough, Bianca! There's no way anyone can say you're not. You're way past anyone else when it comes to taking care of your pokemon. I haven't seen a lot of trainers that are as good as you when it comes to that."

Bianca smiled honestly as the sincere compliment. "Thanks, Iris," she said. At least there was that. She'd done her best to make sure her pokemon were as well cared for as they could be, and honestly did love them. If only she could actually protect them, then she'd fit the bill as a trainer.

But for now, Bianca decided to forget about those thoughts. Iris was with her, and she wanted to enjoy that. "You're really sweet, Iris," Bianca said, and then put her arm around her.

"Oh... Thanks." Iris said. She fidgeted and looked away awkwardly. Then she looked back toward Bianca, blushing but happy for this kind of attention. Bianca moved closer to her, and Iris took the cue to close her eyes for a kiss.

* * *

Iris left the meeting feeling annoyed. Irritably, she walked through Castelia. Was she sure that she saw what she saw, and heard what she heard, she was asked again and again. How many times and how many different ways could she say yes? Not enough, it seemed. If Drayden had been there, he would have told them she was definitely telling the truth. But her mentor had gone to investigate a sighting of Zekrom at the last minute.

But they should know already that she wouldn't make it up. Hadn't Iris been the biggest skeptic of all of this in the first place? Still, she'd seen what she'd seen. She wasn't telling tales because it would be a cool to be chosen as a modern hero of truth by Reshiram or something. If she was going to tell a story, it would be that Reshiram had chosen her right on the spot as its new hero and they'd flown off together on some super awesome journey or something. In fact, Iris considered, maybe something like that could still happen.

No, Iris told herself, shaking her head. She wasn't going to get caught up in daydreams. It was something that might possibly happen in reality, in which case, it would be a real story, not some daydream. And then she'd tell it to the people who had doubted her story, with Reshiram or Zekrom, or even the both of them in front of them to prove it.

Still, Iris found herself caught up in the daydream of showing those pokemon to those people, and what their reactions might be. By the time she left the dust-mess to where she was going to meet Drayden in Nimbasa, she was completely caught up in it. She only noticed Drayden when he was right next to her.

"Ah!" Iris said, in realization of her fault. "Hi Grandpa," she said casually. "Did you get to see Zekrom? Did Zekrom tell you what Reshiram told me?"

Drayden shook his head at Iris. "No," he said. "I didn't happen to see Zekrom myself, though I spoke with those who did. I had to deal with some other trouble, however."

"What kind of trouble?"

"Would-be 'visitors' to Entralink," Drayden said.

"Oh, yeah," Iris said with a sigh. "The pokemon there could have taken care of that though, huh?"

"Exactly why I had to intervene while I could."

Iris nodded. She looked behind Drayden, and saw two people. They straightened up and looked away as she gazed toward them. "Hm," Iris said, taking a moment longer to study their forms. They were wearing trenchcoats now, but she still recognized them. "It wasn't those two, was it?" she said, casually motioning toward them.

"It was," Drayden said.

"They really look familiar," Iris said thoughtfully. "They weren't trying to steal some pokemon before that, were they?"

"From what I gather from speaking with the boy I found with them, that may indeed be what happened," Drayden said.

"We should call the police on them, maybe?" Iris said.

"I don't have the evidence to support a conviction against them, Iris. But from what they said when I took them out of Entralink, they're very down on their luck. Offer them some work at our gym," Drayden suggested.

"Invite some criminals in?" Iris said dubiously.

"In the case of these possible thieves, they may have connections to a gang in another region. If possible, we should keep them close to learn more. Do you understand?" Drayden asked.

"Got it!" Iris said. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, was it? Iris knew she also asked him specifically to do it because she was less threatening, as the 'little girl'. But these two already knew just what a threat she could be. She walked up to them, as they turned their backs to her and pretended not to notice. "Hey, you two!" she said.

"Yes?" They both turned to face her, though only slightly.

"You're looking for work, right?" Iris said, pointing at the bulletin board.

"Maybe," the woman replied.

"Come to my gym then, okay? It's in Opelucid. I need someone to help out right away. I'll pay you fifty percent more than they will, plus a fee for traveling," Iris said, pointing to a random ad.

The two looked at each other as they considered the offer. "We're there!" a voice said.

Iris knew it was the talking meowth, but proceeded as if the humans had spoken. "Great!" Iris said. She grabbed the man by the sleeve and pulled him forward. "Come on, then! Hurry up. I'll help you figure out how to get there. I'll need you to start work right away!"


	6. Moving On

**6**  
**Moving On**

Bianca stepped out onto walkway observing the port town of Driftveil. She watched the people below on the docks, loading and unloading the cargo. Iris had told her that there was a storage area around, and nearby that was a good place to train, and she planned to go right there. Bianca was determined to improve herself as a trainer as much as possible. Maybe she could get directions in town. Bianca nodded to herself, then ran down the path, on her way to the pokemon center.

Inside, Bianca saw not one, but two familiar faces. "Oh! Hey! Hey you two!" Bianca said.

Cheren looked up from the book he'd been reading. Iris just ran over and gave her a hug. "I hoped you'd be here before I had to go," she said. Bianca nodded at her and hugged her back. Cheren had an inquisitive expression at the two girls greeting each other, but just calmly walked toward them.

"Bianca?" he said. "It's been a while. This is..."

"Oh, Cheren. This is Iris, I guess you know who she is... Iris, this my good friend, Cheren," Bianca said, introducing them.

Iris narrowed her eyes just a moment at hearing 'good friend', but then shook off her immature jealously. She gave Bianca an extra tight hug before moving away from her and jumping right in front of Cheren. "Nice to meet you," she said, injecting energy and seriousness into her voice as she stuck out her hand to shake his.

"You as well," Cheren said calmly, and shook hands with Iris. "I know you'd met her, but I didn't realize that you were close friends," he said.

"We're a little more than friends," Iris said.

"Really?" Cheren asked, blinking curiously.

"Oh... Yes," Bianca said, blushing slightly. Suddenly, she felt a little nervous. Being Iris's girlfriend with just the two of them was nice. But considering it now, the idea of telling someone else made her nervous.

Luckily, Cheren was often oblivious to these kinds of things. He shifted the conversation to what he'd really been interested in. "Do you help Bianca train?" Cheren asked Iris.

"A little bit," Iris said.

"That's nice. I'm a little envious of you in that respect, Bianca. I don't know any powerful trainers," Cheren said.

"Don't you have any badges?" Iris asked.

"Yes, I've earned five," Cheren said.

"Wow! Then you know at least a few strong trainers," Iris said.

"Indeed. But they aren't really in your league," Cheren said.

"Hey! No need to feed my ego," Iris said.

"It's true though, isn't it? You're one person I'd consider my rival in my quest for the top, along with Alder himself."

"Come on, now! Rather than talking about how good I am, I'd rather just battle," Iris said. She grinned suddenly. "Do you want to battle, huh?" she asked Cheren.

"Oh, no, I couldn't do that," Cheren said, refusing her offer immediately.

"Why not?" Iris asked.

"Um," Bianca began. They both looked at her, so she began to speak. "You have five badges, Cheren? So you've beat the gym here already?"

"Yes," Cheren confirmed. "Clay is a great trainer, with a very interesting gym."

"Opelucid's is better," Iris chimed in, then stopped, realizing her fault right away.

Bianca nodded. "Congratulations, Cheren," she said, putting on a smile. She shouldn't be sad upon hearing of her friend's successes. Even though it was exactly how she felt. Cheren had won at all five gyms along the way. So had Hilda, the other friend she'd started her journey with. She'd only challenged three of the gyms along the way, and lost every time. Bianca smiled normally even as she thought this, fighting her sadness.

"So no more talking about it. I feel like battling," Iris said.

"No, I'll have to decline," Cheren said.

"Why?" Iris demanded. "You're a trainer, right? You should battle with all kinds of people!"

"You're the leader of Opelucid gym, correct?"

"Yeah," Iris said.

"I will battle you at the gym. So it wouldn't be proper to battle you here, would it?" Cheren asked.

Iris raised an eyebrow. "Gym battling is different! You won't be spoiling yourself for the gym or anything."

Cheren still seemed hesitant, but nodded. "Alright," he said.

"Great! Let's go outside!" Iris said. She rushed out herself, excited about the battle. It had been a while since she'd done something so spontaneous. She was happy to train with Drayden and finally be a gym leader and all, but still enjoyed the spontaneity of something like this. She ran nearby the storage area, where there was a lot of open space for battling.

"I don't think I'm prepared for this," Cheren said.

"You can set the conditions," Iris offered.

"Alright," Cheren said with a nod. "Two against two might work," he said.

"So a double battle?" Iris asked.

"No, singles, just only two pokemon each," Cheren clarified.

"Great! I've got mine picked out already!" Iris held up two pokeballs.

As Cheren did the same, Bianca stood to the side and watched. Iris often really got into battling like this. It seemed Cheren was the same, paying no attention to the goings on around him as he carefully picked two pokeballs. It was really impressive to watch the two of them getting ready to battle.

"I'm ready," Cheren said.

"The same," Iris said.

They both threw out their pokeballs at the same time. Fraxure appeared in front of Iris and Liepard in front of Cheren. "Oh," Cheren said, furrowing his brow. "I know you have the fully evolved pokemon..." he said.

"Yeah, and so?" Iris said.

"Well, I am worried I won't compare to you at this point in my training, but I still don't want any leniency," Cheren said.

"Fraxure," Fraxure said sheepishly.

"Hey!" Iris began, pointing a finger forward. "Fraxure might be newer than Haxorus, but it's still an awesome pokemon! I trained it the same as the rest of my pokemon. We're both going to give it our best, of course!"

"Understood," Cheren said seriously. "Liepard, go, now."

"Fraxure, let's get started!" Iris said.

Both pokemon understood the unspoken commands for specific attacks. Iris flinched as Liepard landed a fake out attack, shocking Fraxure and messing up its attack. Fraxure wouldn't fall for that again, though. "Don't sweat it, Fraxure! Try your cute dance!" Iris said.

"Liepard, fury swipes," Cheren said. Liepard leapt at Fraxure and completed furiously scratched it over and over. As it completed the attack, Fraxure stopped flinching, and began the impressive-looking dragon dance, its surrounding area glowing in red. "Liepard, torment!" Cheren commanded. Liepard stomped on the ground, glaring at Fraxure. As it went to try the dragon dance again, it was distracted.

"Oh, no," Iris said, sighing calmly. Cheren knew a lot of tricks, she thought. Only switching moves each turn would distract Fraxure from Liepard's evil-looking move. "Your liepard's pretty impressive," Iris commented. Maybe Fraxure still couldn't be any faster even after having revved up with dragon dance, she considered. Oh well, Iris said to herself. "Try dragon tail!" she ordered.

"Pursuit," Cheren said.

Fraxure winced as the attack hit, and then turned around and hit Liepard with its tail. Liepard went flying.

"Oh, man," Iris muttered. Liepard was strewn out on the ground. It was clear it had been knocked out with one hit.

"Liepard, return," Cheren said. He straightened his glasses and stiffened up. He closed his eyes and paused only a second before sending out the next pokemon. "Tranquill, it's your turn," he said, and threw out his next pokeball.

"Aw! We're up against a high flier! Watch out, Fraxure!"

"Tranquill, quick attack," Cheren order.

"Try dragon tail again!" Iris said. The speedy attack hit Fraxure right away, and it swung at Tranquill, missing it. Ah, Iris thought sheepishly. It was an amateurish mistake, she knew. They'd have some fun practicing to fix it later. And now it was lucky this was just the kind of battle she liked, one where she wasn't being judged on how good she was. Bianca's friend didn't sneer or mock her, he had no reaction at all, just looked forward the same as before and gave his next instruction.

"Air cutter!" Cheren said.

"Dragon rage!" Iris said, hoping Fraxure would find it easier to land a hit that way. The attack did strike Tranquill as it flew back down, but it wasn't enough. Tranquill's powerful attack knocked out her pokemon. "Nice try, Fraxure," Iris said. She returned the pokemon, then sent out her next pokemon. "Go, Druddigon!" she said, throwing out the next pokeball. "Now you try dragon tail!"

"Another air cutter!" Cheren said.

Even though it was up in the air, Druddigon easily hit Tranquill, and it fell to the ground, another knockout. "Good job, Druddigon!" Iris said, raising her arms in triumph. Druddigon raised its arms along with her. "Ah! What a refreshing battle! Let's thank the one who battled us!"

"Druddigon!" Druddigon said, smiling at Cheren.

"I'll also have to thank you for the battle. It reminds me just how much more I need to practice," Cheren said.

"Relax a little, Cheren," Iris said. "The battle's over."

"I really do need to concentrate all I can on my training," Cheren said.

"Um, yeah," Iris said. She'd had thoughts about her own needed practice during the battle. "Well, good battle anyway, Cheren."

"Druddigon!" Druddigon confirmed, hopping out in front of Cheren. Surprised, Cheren took take a step back as the large pokemon approached him. Bianca giggled, and Cheren gave a spontaneous smile himself.

Cheren nodded at the two of them. "I'll head back to the pokemon center now. It was good to see you again, Bianca. And nice to meet you, Iris."

"Bye!" Iris said. As he went away, she turned to Iris, grinning. "This is where I told you about. I have to go soon, but before then..." Iris approached her to kiss her.

"Iris, wait," Bianca said.

"Yeah?" Iris said.

"Well, um, I was wondering... Could you battle against me, too?"

Iris blinked in surprise. She hadn't thought of Bianca as a possible battling partner, even if she was her partner in other ways. But she supposed she could battle her, maybe once she trained a little more. "Well, maybe next time."

"Please," Bianca said, grabbing hold of Iris's hands. "I know you're in a hurry. But I really want to battle you. So can we?"

Iris blushed. She couldn't really refuse a request given by Bianca with such intensity, could she? "Alright, if you're sure you want to," she said.

"I am," Bianca said seriously. "I want it to be a full battle, too... I mean, I only have four pokemon, but..."

"Four verses four is fine," Iris said. "I have six pokemon on me."

"Good," Bianca said. She swallowed nervously. Cheren had given it his best against Iris, and she was going to as well. She really wanted to see how she compared. "And, um, you'll try your best, right?"

"Always!" Iris confirmed. She put away Fraxure's pokeball, then picked out three others. "Let's go! I'll go anything for you, Bianca. But this is something that's way fun for me."

Bianca smiled and nodded. She had her four pokemon ready to go. She carefully considered which one might be first. She picked out the pokeball with her herdier. That pokemon was as serious about battling as she wanted to be.

"Okay," Iris said to herself, considering her own choices. She held up Druddigon's pokeball. "Re-"

"Druddigon!" Druddigon said, then stomped its foot. It snorted and looked at Iris seriously.

"Alright. I can see you still wanna battle," Iris said. "Let's go, then!" she said, pointing ahead of herself. Druddigon turned around and faced Bianca, holding up its arm as it hyped itself up for the battle. Iris's excitement was fueled with her pokemon's own, and she held up her own arm and laughed, stomping on of her feet down in imitation. "This is going to be an fun one, huh? Against Bianca, it has to be."

Bianca nodded and smiled back at Iris. She threw out her pokeball, and Herdier appeared. As she'd thought, the pokemon was ready for the battle right away. It kept its serious expression and stared up at Druddigon fearlessly, awaiting Iris's command.

"Herdier, take down!" Bianca yelled, deciding to start out with its strongest attack.

"Time for your revenge!" Iris said. Druddigon was hit by Herdier ramming itself into it. Druddigon took the attack, then hit Herdier back.

Herdier yelped as the attack hit it. It then lay there, knocked out on the ground. Bianca flinched, and her hand trembled a moment. Herdier always stayed so determined, yet was knocked out so fast in many battles. But this was how pokemon battles went, wasn't it? They were fast paced, so she should just send out her next pokemon. She brought Herdier back into its pokeball and threw out the next one. "Go, Pignite! Arm thrust!" she said.

Pignite had practice that move for a while. It hit Druddigon easily. "Dragon tail!" Iris shouted. Druddigon hit the pokemon across the field.

Bianca tried to think quickly. Well, Iris' pokemon were obviously stronger, so maybe she shouldn't concentrate on offensive attacks only. "Smog!" she said. Out of reach, Pignite began the attack. A thick covering of smog enveloped the field, and Druddigon coughed. "Alright! Arm thrust!" Bianca said.

"Once more, dragon tail!" Iris said. Both pokemon attacked at once. Pignite missed in all the smog, but Druddigon, being larger and more practiced in various situations, easily hit Pignite, knocking it out of the murky area.

"Return," Bianca muttered shakily. "Musharna, go!" she said. Musharna was pretty powerful, especially since it had evolved. It could wear Iris's pokemon out. "Psybeam!" she said.

"Night slash!" Iris said.

"Ah!" Bianca shouted. Her pokemon had been knocked out midair before even being able to launch the attack. Bianca fumbled for its pokeball and quickly returned Musharna before it floated to the ground, then reached for her last pokeball. "Pansage, go!" she said. Again, she was pausing to think. Leech seed would heal it as it fought, but this opponent might knock it out before then. "Seed bomb!" Bianca said.

Though Pansage's grass bomb-like attack his dead-on, Druddigon hardly seemed affected by it. "Dragon tail!" Iris said. As her pokemon's attack hit, Pansage was knocked out. "Hm," Iris said, smiling. Well, Bianca did need a lot more practice, she thought to herself. She walked up to Bianca and smiled. She wanted to give her a hug, but was caught up in the battle rituals. "Nice battle," she said to Bianca, sticking out her hand.

"Oh, thanks," Bianca said. She knew Iris was just following the battle ritual. "Nice battle," Bianca said, also being police. She wasn't going to be a sore loser or anything.

"But I have to go now, I really do," Iris said, giving Bianca a hug after all. "I'm gonna miss you, let's talk again soon, okay? Tonight? Will you?"

"Yeah," Bianca said with a nod. She hugged Iris back. She smiled as Iris waved to her, using a borrowed flying type again to go off to Opelucid. Bianca grinned as Iris looked back at her.

She didn't let her smile fall until Iris was out of sight. Then Bianca frowned, clutching her bag, feeling tears of frustration enter her eyes. She'd lost, horribly. The differences were clear, not just between her and Iris, but also her and Cheren. Cheren was more up to Iris's speed, but she was shamefully behind all of them. Cheren could at least think to try and make up for what his shortcomings were compared to Iris. Bianca couldn't go anything compared to them at that level.

She was starting to accept her shortcomings. Still, she didn't want to believe it was the end. There had to be another answer for her if she wasn't able to become stronger as a trainer. With these thoughts in her mind, Bianca ran off to the pokemon center. She could at least do as she had been, and make sure her pokemon were as well cared for as possible.

Bianca put on a smile and walked into the pokemon center. She gave the nurse her pokemon, and then took her time in feeding and caring for them, giving them a break for the rest of the day after they'd given it their best. Bianca knew that people said pokemon wanted to fight, and it would be wrong to deny them the chance. But looking at her pokemon, it seemed they didn't really mind the break. They were having fun, ever Herdier, whose no nonsense expression always had it seeming ready for a battle.

As Bianca sat outside the pokemon center allowing her pokemon to run back and forth, someone approached her. "Oh? Is that you, Bianca?" the woman said.

"Hm?" Bianca looked up. "Oh, Professor Juniper!" Bianca said. She stood up to greet her. "Hello."

"It's been a while, hasn't it?" the professor said calmly. "Is this pignite the tepig I gave you?"

"Um, yeah," Bianca said.

"I see you've been raising it well," the professor said. "I'm glad to see its doing so well. And how about yourself?"

"I'm fine. Oh, well, I mean, I really hope I'm raising it well enough," Bianca said sheepishly. "I'm trying my best and all..." she muttered. "Maybe you should take it back."

"Hm?" Professor Juniper raised her eyebrows. "Is something wrong, Bianca?"

"No, I mean... I'm sorry Professor. I really appreciate everything you did for us. Hilda and Cheren are doing pretty well, but I don't think I'm that good at raising pokemon."

"Why not? All your pokemon here seem happy enough," Professor Juniper pointed out. "No, I wouldn't guess they were neglected in the least."

"Oh, no!" Bianca shook her head. "I wouldn't do that at all!"

"So then-"

"I'm just not good at pokemon battling, Professor," Bianca admitted, frowning. "I can't even win one badge, I'll never make it to a league or anything."

"Ah..." The professor paused a moment in thought. "That can be a concern when it comes to your travels, can't it?"

"Yeah," Bianca said, looking downcast.

"Well, Bianca, I'm not sure I can tell you anything else in regard to that. But why don't you come with me tomorrow? There's someone I'd like you to meet."

"Okay," Bianca agreed.

"Good. I'll meet you here, then," Professor Juniper said.

Bianca nodded. She was curious as to who it would be and where they'd go. That she'd gotten an invitation from Professor Juniper herself was nice, even if it were something mundane. Bianca allowed the happy anticipation of what was coming to override her fear, and went to play with her pokemon again as Professor Juniper left.

* * *

"Hello?" the voice echoed through the large gym.

"Pika?" a pokemon's call followed.

"Right, right, I'm here!" Iris said. She leapt around the platforms, taking a shortcut to where the teenage boy stood, a pikachu stand at his feet. "What's up?" Iris asked. "You lost or something?"

"No," he insisted. "This is the Opelucid gym, right?"

"Yes," Iris said.

"Alright!" the boy said happily. "I'm Ash from Pallet Town, in Kanto. I'm gonna challenge you for your badge."

"Okay Kanto kid," Iris agreed. "Tomorrow, we'll battle! I just got back, and we're catching up on cleaning."

"It looks clean enough already," Ash said.

Iris shook her head and smiled. "You're new, so you don't know Drayden yet, huh?"

"Oh, yeah, I know him," Ash muttered.

"Oh, good. Then you know he won't let us skip our chores to play," Iris said.

"But I was here for a pokemon battle," Ash said.

"Yeah," Iris said with a shrug. "I just said that, right? So, you can come back tomorrow."

"Hm," Ash said. He stood and thought a moment. "How about I help clean! Then you can get done sooner and we can battle, right?"

"I don't think it'll be that quick. But if you want," Iris said with a shrug. "I can't pay you or anything, though," she said.

"That's okay," Ash said. "You have a really cool gym. I guess it would be fun to help out, anyway. Huh, pikachu?"

"Pika!" Pikachu agreed.

"Great! The hired help is already hard at work. Come with me to the back, we'll get some fresh supplies for them," Iris said. She ran out the door, and Ash followed her. She gave him all he could carry, then loaded up a cart for herself to drag various mops, polishes, and other supplies. She put some buckets near the front, then had Ash drop what he was carrying to help her fill them up.

"How much cleaning do you have to do?" Ash said, seeing the supplies. "You don't really need this much stuff, do you?"

"I sure do," Iris said. "We make the place spotless."

"Okay," Ash said. He lifted the last bucket into the cart, then grabbed the supplies he'd dropped. They rushed into the gym together.

"Good! You guys are hard at work! Let's switch out! You take the new buckets."

"Right, right," the woman said. As the group that was cleaning turned around, they spotted the newcomer and tensed up.

"You!" both Ash and Iris's hired help shouted, pointing at each other.

"Team Rocket," Ash said, shaking his head. He turned to Iris. "What are these guys doing here?" he demanded.

"Why shouldn't they be here?" Iris asked casually. It was a little too late to avoid confrontation now.

"They're bad guys! They just keep trying to steal my pokemon, and do steal them, all the time!" Ash said.

"Hey now," the woman began. "We're not doing anything bad!" she insisted.

"That's right!" the talking meowth said.

"We're just working here," the man said, pushing the dirty cloth on the nearby statue to prove the point.

"See? We're just trying to earn an honest living! We're giving up all of that other stuff!"

"Oh," Ash said, suddenly calm as they finished speaking. He looked at Iris questioningly, then back at the group which really did seem to be hard at work. "Okay."

"Pika," Pikachu sighed to itself.

Iris relaxed. The same as Ash's pokemon, she wasn't sure she believed them, even not knowing the full story about them. But for now, the atmosphere had calmed. She, her future challenger, the thieves, and other frequent visitors to the gym all cleaned together. They were done before sunset. Iris looked at her next challenge and sighed. "Sorry, it's a little late for a battle."

"That's okay," Ash said. "Tomorrow for sure, right?"

"Yeah!" Iris said. "I can't wait. I bet you have a lot of interesting pokemon. But why are you so far from home, Kanto boy?"

"Ah..." Ash paused, putting his hand over the hat on his head. "It was just somewhere to go," he explained. "I'll have to visit a lot of places like this to become a pokemon master!"

"What's that?" Iris said, wondering if it was some kind of trainer rank in Kanto, the way 'Dragon Master' was in her home village.

"Um, you know," Ash began.

"Is it something like champion?" Iris asked.

"No, it's something else," Ash said. "You just have to keep trying your best, and then you'll become a master."

"When?" Iris asked. "How will you know?"

"When I'm a real master, I'll just know, I guess," Ash said.

Iris furrowed her brow in confusion. She couldn't really understand it. But everyone needed a goal, and this one, though vague, was as good as any other. She just smiled and nodded. "Alright!" she said. "I'm going to be a pokemon master too! And I'll start by giving the best gym challenge I can! Don't think you'll win so easy," Iris warned.

"No way!" Ash said. "But even if it's not easy, I'm going to win."

Iris nodded. She was almost ready to start the battle right then. But her gym pokemon had also helped clean all day, and they'd be tired. So she'd better not jump right into it and give her pokemon a rest. "We'll see," she said to Ash with a nod. She wondered if this challenger would be up as early as her. There was little else as exciting as a pokemon battle, especially with this kind of eager challenger, Iris thought to herself.

* * *

After the trip through route six, Bianca waited patiently nearby the cave entrance. Pignite had already been out in case wild pokemon were to approach her, but Bianca now brought out Pansage to play as well. They ran around playing tag, and then Pansage curiously approached the entrance to the cave. "Wait," Bianca said. "I'm not sure we really want to go in there," she said.

"Oh, Bianca, it'll be alright."

Bianca looked up from Pansage to Professor Juniper and smiled. "Good morning, Professor!" she said.

"Good morning," Professor Juniper greeted her back. She dropped several bags that she'd been carrying and took a deep breath. "Bianca, I don't mean to impose, but would you be willing to help me out here today?"

"Oh, sure, Professor!" Bianca said. "Do you need help with carrying all of this?"

"Yes, thank you. Also, could you keep out your Pignite? It has an advantage over most of the wild pokemon I regularly see around here. It would be a big help if you were to protect me and my equipment," the professor said.

"Oh, sure!" Bianca said. She was definitely willing to return the favor of protection, even if it were to someone else in this completely different situation. Bianca grabbed one of the professor's bags, then took out Pansage's pokeball. "Pansage, re-"

Pansage interrupted Bianca with a slight whine. It pointed to the cave and frowned. "Oh? Did you want to see in there?" Bianca nodded, then smiled. "We have to be careful, but I guess you can. Just stick by me and don't run off, okay?" As she said this, Pansage jumped up with glee.

"Well, I'm ready. Let's go, then," Professor Juniper said.

They all entered the cave together. Both Bianca and Pignite were on alert, but then Bianca's eyes widened as her vision adjusted to the light. "Oh!" she said in surprise. The cave itself was glowing somehow. A lightning-like phenomenon sparked all around many of the rocks. "Professor Juniper, this is amazing!" Bianca said.

"You hadn't heard of Chargestone Cave before?" Professor Juniper asked.

"Oh, um," Bianca paused to think. Thinking about it further, she might have heard of it. But it was just a casual mention in school, when she'd just sat there, dully trying to picture what the description meant in her mind. "It's more impressive to see than to hear about," Bianca said.

"I guess that's right," the professor said. "That's the reason I go out to places like this myself. It's easier to understand things by seeing them for yourself sometimes."

Bianca nodded. As she conversed with the professor, Pansage curiously looked at one of the rocks. It reached out its hand to touch. "Wait," Bianca said as she saw it. Her warning was too late. Pansage touched the rock. But instead of being shocked as Bianca had expected, Pansage fell over. The rock flew across the cave, away from them. Both Bianca and Pansage were confused. "Professor?" Bianca said.

The professor hid her giggle. "They're magnetized," she said. "That's why some are even floating."

Bianca noticed now. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "Can they all move around so easy?"

"Some," the professor said. "It can help us get some places by moving them around. But we have to be careful."

Bianca nodded. She picked up Pansage and carried it as they walked around. It was so exciting to be there that she'd nearly completely forgotten about her depression from the other day. This must be the reason the professor had invited her, Bianca considered. She really did appreciate it, and was determined to do her best to return the favor by helping out the professor as much as she could. "What's next, Professor?" Bianca asked.

"We've got just a little further to go," the professor said.

"Right," Bianca said with a nod, and dutifully went forward, motioning to Pignite to lead the way. Eventually Pansage got too heavy along with what else she was carrying, so Bianca put it down and instructed it to walk next to her.

"Oh, Bianca," the professor called in surprise. "Here's one of those pokemon I was talking about."

"Where?" Bianca said, looking around for it. The professor had been right behind her, how could she have missed the chance to protect her?"

"Right there," the professor said, pointing to the ground.

Bianca's gaze fell down slowly, and she eventually focused on the small creature on the ground. "Is that really a pokemon?" she said.

"Yes, it's a joltik," the professor informed. As they talked, the joltik seemed to look up and hiss at the professor, then turned to Bianca and did the same.

Bianca had also heard of this pokemon, and thought the pictures she'd seen of it were cute. She even had a figure of it she'd received in the mail. But she never really imagined it would be this small. Despite the fact it was acting pretty aggressively, it wasn't really much of a threat. Professor Juniper had seemed pretty calm as she'd asked Bianca to attack it. Bianca furrowed her brow and looked back up as the professor. "Isn't it fine to just ignore it?" she said.

"No way," a new voice said. A teenaged male spoke to them from a nearby ledge. "Don't underestimate it. That thing will come back with its pals, then we might have trouble. Just quickly show it what kind of power you have, then they'll all leave us alone. Hopefully."

Bianca turned away from the newcomer and frowned. She gave a nod, and pointed forward. "Pignite, try, um... Rollout," she said. As Pignite moved full force to the pokemon, it was easily knocked out. "That's good," Bianca said quickly. She didn't want to hurt the pokemon too badly. She looked over at Professor Juniper to see if she was right. As she looked back over the pokemon, it seemed to have scurried away. "Alright. That's done," Bianca said.

"Thank you, Bianca," Professor Juniper said with a nod. She hoisted up her bag and began walking toward the boy that had spoken to them before. "Gary, I should have known you'd get started this early," she said.

"Not a lot else to do," the boy said with a shrug.

"Thank you for your dedication," the professor said. "Oh, and Bianca, this is Gary, he's an assistant who works for my father. Gary, this is Bianca. She's a trainer who's helping me out today."

"Ah, nice to meet you," Gary said, shaking Bianca's hand.

"Um, you too," Bianca said politely.

"Also nice to have some help that's not me. Well, let's get started," Gary said.

Bianca nodded. The professor and Gary were both so engrossed and serious as they set everything up. She was a little nervous as she tried her best to follow their directions. She could be clumsy, and didn't want to mess up their work, so she got even more nervous. Trying to set up the stand, her hand trembled and she dropped a piece, sending it all toppling over. "Oh, I'm sorry," Bianca said, trying to quickly pick everything up.

"It's fine," Gary said. He began to pick it all up himself. "You're a newbie to this, I should have give you better instructions." Bianca nodded at hearing him, but still felt guilty. "Hey," Gary said. "Can you clear some rock away over there for us?" Gary asked.

"That's a good idea, we'll need a more open area for the next part," Professor Juniper said. "Also keep an eye out for any stray pokemon."

"Okay!" Bianca said. She had fun with Pignite and Pansage, pushing the magnetic rocks around. For the pokemon, it seemed more like playing around. That was fine though, wasn't it? Pignite also got to fight some interesting looking wild pokemon, which it quickly defeated. Bianca was able to figure out their types from her pokedex, and Professor Juniper had been right, Pignite had the definite advantage.

They were all tired as Bianca approached the group. "Um, Professor Juniper?" she said.

"Oh, Bianca. Thanks for your help. I guess it's time for lunch, isn't it? Gary?" Professor Juniper looked over at Gary, who was utterly engrossed in his work. "Gary?" she said, tapping him on the should.

"Oh, right," Gary said. "Is it that late already?" he said.

"It is. I have brought something for us," the professor said.

"Thanks, Professor," Gary said. "I forgot about that kind of thing."

"That's not good, Gary. You do need to take care of yourself," the professor said.

They went to the area that Bianca and her pokemon had cleared and Professor Juniper brought out the sandwiches she'd made for them. As they ate, Gary turned to Bianca. "So, you're a pokemon trainer?" he said. "A new one, right?"

"Yeah, I just started," Bianca said.

"How many badges do you have so far?" Gary asked.

"None," Bianca said.

"None?" Gary said, raising an eyebrow. "Are the gym leaders here in Unova so tough? I was able to collect badges easy when I started out."

"Aren't you a researcher?" Bianca asked.

"Yeah, now I am," Gary said. "A lot of researchers have done some training and battled in leagues before. The experience is valuable."

Bianca nodded. "Were you a trainer before, Professor Juniper?" she asked.

"Well, not how you're thinking of it, Bianca. I knew I wanted to go into research right away," Professor Juniper said.

"And you got your own experience without wasting time with that, huh?" Gary said, shutting his eyes and smiling. He then turned to Bianca. "I just stopped the whole pokemon trainer thing recently," he explained. "So I'm probably less experienced than Professor Juniper was at my age."

"Well, we all have our own path to follow. It must have been exciting for you. You ranked highly in two leagues, didn't you?" Professor Juniper said.

"Yeah," Gary casually confirmed. "I wasn't bad. There were a lot of people better than me, though. Not everyone can be the very best." Gary shrugged. "Battling is fun, but after so many years, I didn't see the point to it if I was going to just miss the mark like that."

Bianca nodded seriously. "You had to give up?" she said. She could relate. It was getting to that kind of painful point for her.

"No, it's not like that," Gary insisted. "I went the whole way, and I just lost out to others. It was time to move on, look for something else where I could put my interest in pokemon to good use. My grandpa's a researcher, so I've grown up knowing what they do. I thought it was something I might be good at. It's something else I'm trying, and I like it."

Bianca nodded again. She now knew why Professor Juniper had invited her along, and it wasn't to cheer her up. The professor had wanted Bianca to meet someone with a very different point of view than a beginning trainer, or a gym leader who had met with much success. Gary seemed like he might have been a lot like Cheren when he was a beginning trainer, aiming for strength. And even though, being a league participant, he wasn't as bad as Bianca, he lost in all the competition.

But there was a whole world out there, Bianca realized. Pokemon just didn't mean battling and being the best. There was more she might be able to do, with or without pokemon. "Professor," Bianca began.

"Yes?" Professor Juniper said.

"I'm interested in pokemon research too! Can I help you out for a while longer?" Bianca asked.

"Of course! I'd appreciate the help, however brief," Professor Juniper said.

Bianca felt happy, the excitement she'd felt in the morning upon entering the cave creeping back. Pokemon research might be fun. Bianca knew it was something else she might not be any good at, the same as training, but she shouldn't get stuck on what she couldn't do. Bianca was going to look for more of what she could do. Bianca didn't really have a clear, easy to define goal in her mind, but she'd keep looking for a satisfying one that she'd be able to accomplish.


	7. Can't Go Home Again

**7**  
**Can't Go Home Again**

"Alright!" Iris shouted. She'd won again. She was really living up to the challenge of Opelucid gym, or so she hoped. If only Drayden was here to give her feedback. She really missed him, and some of her extra duties were starting to get to her. Some people didn't realize she only took over for Drayden as gym leader, not in any other aspect of his duties. It especially tiring dealing with their new employees, though Iris was sure she could handle them.

Iris made some small talk with the trainer she'd just beaten, then headed to the door. She was done for the day. She peeked in where their new employees were, and told them that they could leave as well. They'd basically been loafing around, but she couldn't scold them as she hadn't really given them much to do that day.

Afterward, she went back home. She creaked open the door, going into the large mansion where she now lived with Drayden. "Welcome home, Iris," the familiar deep voice greeted her.

"Ah! Grandpa!" Iris called happily. She ran up to greet him with a hug. "No, you welcome back! I've been busy. I've had some challengers. Everyone wants to battle me," Iris began happily chatting about her new gym experiences.

Drayden nodded. "I've heard you've been doing well on your own."

"Really?" Iris said happily. "I mean, I know the results my own, and I know I can make improvements," she quickly added, not wanting to seem full of herself.

"As always, Iris," Drayden said.

"It's been really fun," Iris said.

"I'm as pleased as you are at your success, but know you'll have to step down for the moment," Drayden said.

Iris's face fell. She didn't want to stop, not at all. There were still so many powerful trainers to face, and there was no reason for her to stop. Fighting her urge for an outburst and regaining her composure, Iris turned to Drayden. "Why?" she asked him in a controlled, straightforward manner.

"Your parents have contacted me," Drayden said.

"Oh," Iris said. So, this wasn't his doing. "And? What did they say?"

"They've worried about you. The news of all the strange goings-on has spread to your hometown," Drayden said.

Iris raised an eyebrow. "But we don't even know what's going on, and the people on the news know even less."

"Yes, so you can understand why that confusion would increase their worry," Drayden said.

"Right," Iris said gloomily. It didn't have much to do with her as a gym leader though, did it?

"Go visit them," Drayden said.

"Right!" Iris said, the energy coming back into her voice. "So, I'll only be gone a little bit. Right? I'll be right back and ready to fight more gym battles and defend Unova and everything else!"

"That's up to you and your family," Drayden said.

Iris still frowned as he said that. Drayden was her appointed guardian here, but he couldn't really make decisions about her life, or leave her free to make her own. That was up to her parents. "I will be," she declared. Drayden said nothing to that.

Iris suddenly had an idea as she turned around. "Oh, I know. I'll invite my... My sweetheart! I have a sweetheart now, you know."

"Iris," Drayden said with a sigh.

"It's not distracting me from training or anything, I'm just in love," Iris said. "So, you're gonna pay my way back, right? Can you pay for h- Um... Can you pay for my sweetheart to come to?"

"Yes, it might be a good idea for someone to accompany you. Just use some good judgment in choosing who. I'm trusting you on that."

"Right!" Iris said. Yes, Drayden trusted her, and she'd continue to work to be worthy of that trust. But there was really absolutely nothing at all wrong with Bianca visiting with her, as long as she wanted to. Iris did hope she wanted to. Besides really wanting to spend more time with Bianca, Iris wanted something to make her trip a little more bearable.

* * *

Bianca felt nervous as she walked up to the very familiar house. Yes, she knew the place she'd grown up very well, but she'd been gone so long that it seemed different somehow. Bianca took a deep breath and knocked on the door. "Yes?" her mother said as she opened the door. "Oh!" she declared as she realized who it was. "Bianca, you don't have to knock," she said with a laugh. "Come on in, right away!"

Bianca giggled slightly, and supposed she had been acting silly. This was still her home after all. "Okay, Mom," she said. As she walked inside, her father was there too.

"Bianca! You've decided to come home?" he asked.

"Um, well, I'm just visiting. I'm traveling with Professor Juniper right now. She needed to return to her lab, but then she's going into the field again, and I'm going to accompany here," Bianca said. Professor Juniper had also said it would be good to visit home. Bianca had agreed, but hoped it was just going to be a pleasant visit, not another episode of him trying to convince her to hide at home.

"That's wonderful," Bianca's father said. "That kind of thing is really more suited to a nice, pretty girl like you than battling."

Bianca nodded, still with a smile on her face. But that comment didn't really sit right with her. There was nothing about being nice or pretty that meant one couldn't battle with pokemon. And she specifically, though realizing maybe the gym circuit wasn't right for her, wouldn't give up pokemon battling. She wasn't the best at it, but her pokemon loved it. She wouldn't disappoint the pokemon who stayed with her by denying them battles, nor by denying them both the chance to improve.

"Well, I'm going to make some tea," Bianca's mother said. "Please dear, introduce me to your pokemon, and tell me all about your journey."

"Okay, Mom. Go, Pignite, Herdier, Musharna, Pansage!" Bianca called.

After introducing them, Bianca was amused as her mother put out tea for all of them. Pansage was the only one to take the cup and drink it properly. Herdier took one lick them stopped, the fur by its mouth now dripping with tea onto the floor. Pignite clumsily spilled its drink right away. "Sorry, Mom," Bianca said, though she was finding it tough to keep a straight face.

"It's fine, dear. Now, just-" Bianca's mother stopped, now curiously looking over at Musharna. It was using its psychic powers to move the tea through the air and into its mouth. It then moved Pignite's spilled tea back into the cup. "Oh! Thank you, Musharna," Bianca's mother said.

"Musharna," the pokemon replied.

"But we still shouldn't drink it since it's been on the floor." Bianca's mother took the cup away from Pignite as it tried a second attempt to drink the tea. She then turned to Bianca and smiled. "This is an interesting bunch of pokemon you have," she said.

Bianca nodded. "They're great. We've really had a good time." Bianca began chatting with her about her various pokemon specifically. This was something positive to concentrate on when it came to her travels. She shared the stories of their capture, growth, and all the small moments they'd enjoyed together. Bianca's mother nodded and joked as she did.

Bianca felt better already. It was nice to get back home for a visit. Going home helped her realize that it wasn't where she needed to be, pushing the doubts that she should have listened to her father far behind her. Talking to her mother also helped Bianca sort out just how very important her pokemon and training them were to her.

After visiting, Bianca helped her mother out in the garden. With her direction, her pokemon picked a very nice bouquet which she put on the table. Afterward, she helped her mother cook dinner. Pansage wanted to help out, but kept throwing the ingredients around. After calming it down, Bianca gently helped the pokemon finish cooking up the meal and scooping portions onto plates.

As they finished, she fed her pokemon first, then sat down with her family for the meal. "This all looks great, Bianca," her father complimented.

"It's Mom's, mostly," Bianca said.

"But you helped, and made the house look so nice. I saw you helping your pokemon out. You're so gentle with them, it's great to see."

Bianca nodded, beaming at her father's positivity. "Thanks, Papa," she said.

"Yes, it seems I was worried for nothing when I was sending you out," he added.

"Uh... Yeah," Bianca said happily.

"Right. Skills you learn when traveling and training will help you out when you become a wife and mother, won't they?"

"Ah..." Bianca's happy expression faltered.

Both of her parents noticed. "What's wrong, Bianca?" her father asked with concern.

"Are you feeling alright?" her mother said, rushing over to her.

"Yes, I'm fine," Bianca assured. She put on her smile again, but it hurt this time, so she just subtlety dropped it as they continued the meal. What her journey had meant for her was discovering more about the world around her. Eventually, she'd seen it as a way to find some possible futures for herself. Instead, her father acted like it had already been decided for her. Bianca didn't like it.

It wasn't the truth that she'd automatically become a wife and mother after growing up. Even if it had been something she wanted, it wouldn't be a guarantee. She'd have to be able to provide for the children, find the right partner for herself, and more to meet the right conditions. But she wasn't even sure she wanted that.

No, though it wasn't a terrible future, it hadn't been something she wanted for herself. Maybe she'd change her mind someday and it would happen, but maybe it wouldn't. Bianca didn't want to be constantly reminded of what her future was expected to be. She'd rather just concentrate on the here and now and what her present could become.

After washing the dishes, Bianca was reminded of that as her xtransceiver went off. Bianca excitedly answered upon seeing that it was Iris calling her. "Iris! I'm so happy to hear from you," Bianca said.

"Oh, wow," Iris said, pausing a moment at Bianca's intensity. "I'm so glad you answered, too. I've got something super exciting to ask you about!"

"What's that?" Bianca asked.

"Well, um, I know you might be too busy. But I totally want to, um, invite you! Yeah! I'm going to visit my family in the country and Drayden said he'd pay for someone to accompany me. Can you come? Do you think?"

"Wow! I'd like to come, where are you from again?" Bianca asked. She'd remembered Iris talking about her hometown, but not specifics of where.

"It's a little outside Unova, out in the country. It's a long bus ride."

"I want to go! I'll just talk to my parents about it. I'm visiting them now."

"Oh," Iris said. "Is it going okay?" she asked warily, recalling how Bianca's father had felt about her traveling and training.

"Yes, more or less," Bianca said, keeping the smile on her face.

"Great! So let me know soon! Okay? I mean I understand if you can't go. But I reeeeally want to go with you!"

"Right, I'll let you know right away," Bianca said.

As she walked downstairs, she looked for her parents. Her mother was reading a book. "Mom?" Bianca said.

"Oh, yes dear?"

"Oh, I just got a call Iris. She wants to know if I can go visit her family with her. They live outside Unova, in the country," Bianca said.

"Oh, will you go then?" her mother asked. "I'm sure it'll be fun."

"Um, yeah," Bianca said, glad her mother was leaving it up to her.

"Iris, huh? I've met her, right?" Bianca's mother looked up, trying to remember.

"It's the same Iris that's just been on the news," Bianca said.

"Oh, yes! I absolutely remember her. She was a sweet girl. Have you made a lot of new friends like that?"

Bianca nodded. But it seemed dishonest to leave it like that. "But well, Mom, Iris isn't like just anyone else I've met," she said.

"You were becoming close friends even before you started out on your journey, weren't you?"

"Yeah, but it's not just that," Bianca said. She became kind of nervous before she said it. "Iris is my girlfriend." Bianca swallowed after saying that. She didn't know why she had. Well, her relationship with Iris wasn't something Bianca wanted to think was shameful. She supposed she just wanted reassurance from her mother that she was still loved no matter what, especially after her father had let his hopes for her be known. Bianca's lip quivered as she waited the long second for her mother's response.

Her mother only smiled, in a way that seemed more amused than understanding. "Do you really think that, Bianca?" she asked.

"Y-Yeah," Bianca said. "I'm not making it up."

Her mother nodded. "I believe that's what you think right now," she said. "Don't worry about it though, Bianca."

Bianca frowned. Assurance for her not to worry was exactly what she had wanted. But still, it felt wrong as she heard it. "Why?" Bianca asked.

"Well, a lot of girls go through a phase like that. You're a good girl, you're just mistaking a close friendship for what romance really is."

"No," Bianca insisted, shaking her head. "We're together. Iris even was the one to ask me. It's not a mistake, Mom."

"Yes, Iris should grow out of it soon as well. You're still too young to really understand what you're saying. It's too soon for you to decide something like that. You're both just children. But don't worry about it at all. Just enjoy your friendship, and have fun on your trip."

Bianca forced herself to smile, then nodded again. Her mother's sentiments were confusing. The advice was both unsatisfying and unrequested. Still, it had left Bianca with something to think about.

* * *

The wind rustled through the trees as Bianca approached the uncrowded bus stop. She looked in her bag for the ticket. Even if there were only three buses lined up, she couldn't know where she'd go without looking at it. Though maybe Iris was there, Bianca thought. Quickly scanning the dozen or so people lounging around, Bianca couldn't find her. She rustled around the bag, then looked at her ticket before looking back at the station. It had a number for the place she'd go, but none of the buses were numbered, and there were no other signs or markings in front of them.

Well, she'd just have to ask to find out where she was supposed to be. The person at the window would know, it wasn't like the place was that big. Bianca went up to the ticket window to ask. "Um... Hello?" she called. No one was there. So much for that.

"Hey! Bianca! Bianca, over here!"

Before Bianca could turn around and even find where she was being called from, the person calling her caught up to her and grabbed onto her arm. Bianca was shocked a moment, then recognized her as Iris right away. "Iris!" Bianca exclaimed.

Iris really didn't look like herself, though. Her long hair was pulled back into one ponytail, and instead of the casual pink outfits she usually wore, she had on a black and white formal outfit. As Bianca recognized her, she beamed. That happy expression was very much like Iris at least, Bianca thought. "I thought you might be late! Well, we're still an hour early, but I'm so happy you made it! Thanks for coming with me Bianca. I'm really, really excited about it."

"Yeah, it's no problem," Bianca said, nodding with a smile. "I'm looking forward to it too. I want to see that village you talked about."

"It's really no big deal. Don't get your hopes up about it or anything."

"I understand. I guess it would be nice to go on a trip anywhere with you though," Bianca said, clutching Iris's arm closer.

"Ah... Yeah!" Iris said, her face becoming hot as she blushed. She'd hated the idea of going home at first, but now with Bianca by her side, it was something fun. "Let's go get ready, huh? I left my bag over there. I'll take care of your's!" Iris lifted up Bianca's suitcase as she ran over to the bench. They sat down together.

"Maybe we should take our pokemon out," Bianca suggested. "I guess they won't be allowed to be on the crowded bus."

"It won't be that crowded," Iris said. "But you can't take any pokemon out unless they're shorter than that, and less wide than the line on the ground."

"Oh," Bianca said as she noted the measuring device on the ground. "I don't think any of the pokemon I have are any shorter than that." Iris's large dragons certainly wouldn't be, she thought to herself.

"Let's take them out and see!" Iris said. She took out three pokeballs, and Bianca took out her four. They threw them out, releasing all the pokemon.

Iris laughed as her pokemon completely towered over the height limit. Bianca giggled herself. "I guess Pansage might make it?" she said. Pansage stepped by the height limit, making it clear its height did go a little over. It frowned, looking at the ground.

"Don't worry, Pansage. It just means you're in the same boat as the rest of the pokemon," Iris assured. She turned to Bianca. "It also means I get you all to myself, huh?" she said, cuddling next to her.

"Yeah," Bianca said, happily smiling at Iris's affection.

"For now, let's have some fun before we leave Unova, huh?" Iris said. She ran off and played with the pokemon. She and the pokemon were having fun racing when Iris jumped up. "Oh! Wait, that's our bus!"

Bianca and Iris both returned their pokemon to the pokeballs, and then grabbed their luggage. It looked like they were just on time to board. Putting their luggage in front, the walked to a seat near the back and sat down. Iris sighed, calming down from the fun they'd had.

"Iris, you've got some stuff in your hair," Bianca pointed out.

"Oh! Oh no. Get it out, please Bianca?" Iris asked as she tried to reach up and find whatever it was.

Bianca nodded, and began taking out a leaves that had scattered around her hair while she'd been playing. "I see you dressed up," she said, then brushed the dust off of her back as well.

"Yeah. I guess I forgot I was dressed up, even if it's all stiff and constricting. I really made it all messy, huh?" Iris said.

"Oh, yeah, but it doesn't look bad. You can clean up soon enough," Bianca assured.

"Oh, good," Iris said. "What do you think, anyway? Do I look nice like this?"

"Um, yeah," Bianca said. Actually, she preferred Iris in her regular outfits. She seemed more approachable then. But Bianca knew her well enough that Iris was already plenty approachable, and how she was dressed didn't change that. Iris didn't really seem to like dressing up, and Bianca started to wonder if maybe she should have for this trip as well. "Why are you all dressed up anyway?"

"Oh, I don't know," Iris said with a shrug. "I guess I was just trying to prove something."

"Prove what?"

"I don't know, it's just my parents. They think I'm jut a kid. They always thought I was just a kid, even when Drayden was telling them I was awesome enough to go to Unova and work with him! Dressed like this, I wouldn't seem so immature to them, right?" Iris said. Looking in the mirror at herself in the outfit Drayden had bought her for formal occasions before she'd tossed it aside and dressed casually on those occasions anyway, Iris saw herself as almost like a different person. Maybe her parents would too, she'd thought.

"I don't know... Maybe," Bianca said. "But even if they still see you as a kid, they should also see how awesome you are."

Iris appeared satisfied with that response. But Bianca began to think about it more. Though she was definitely growing up, Iris really was like a kid. Just like her mother had said, the two of them really were still children. Though her girlfriend really seemed older and more mature to Bianca, Iris was a year and some months younger. She'd be even less ready to decide something like this than Bianca herself, and Bianca didn't really consider herself completely clear on the subject, either.

As Iris cuddled closer to her, ready for a nap, Bianca's mind traveled back to the present. She felt really warm sitting by her. It was nice to have someone like this to feel close to. There was no way it was wrong. Bianca put her arm around Iris, and continued enjoying the moment.

* * *

When they arrived, Bianca found she had to trek even further from the bus stop to get to Iris's home. They walked several miles before they were picked up by yet another bus. This one was smaller and looked much older, Bianca thought, observing the faded paint. But it was familiar to Iris, who even greeted the driver happily.

"So, are you back home with us for a while, Iris?" the driver asked.

"No way! Unova's too exciting to leave for long," Iris insisted.

"Alright, then go have a seat. You can take out your pokemon if you'd like, too."

Iris giggled. "My pokemon are way too massive to ride on this bus anyway. My friend Bianca's might have some fun, though!"

Bianca decided it was best if she only invited out two. Herdier and Pansage were both curious yet well-behaved as they peeked out the window. The sun was getting low in the sky. By the time they arrived, it was sunset.

"Come on, we're almost there!" Iris said. They rushed around the corner. They were going uphill for a while before Bianca saw the small house in the dim twilight. Iris grabbed Bianca's bag and ran to the door. Bianca noticed that despite the reservations she'd talked about when on her way, Bianca was excited as she knocked on the door. "Mom! Dad!" she said as the two people opened the door. She gave both of them a hug in turn.

"Iris, come on in," her mother said. "And this is?"

"Oh, sorry," Iris said quickly. "This is Bianca. Bianca, here's my mom and dad."

"Nice to meet you," Bianca said, sticking out her hand to shake their's.

"Thanks so much for watching Iris during the long trip over here," Iris's mother said.

"Guess you went to a lot of trouble," Iris's father added. "That's real nice of you."

"Oh, no," Bianca assured uncomfortably. She knew Iris wouldn't be happy with this.

Iris frowned indeed. "Mom, Dad, you're wrong! I could have made it over here myself! Bianca's not my baby-sitter or anything!"

"Yeah," Bianca confirmed, smiling nervously. She didn't want to be in the middle of a family conflict.

But Iris's parents both smiled and shrugged to each other and said nothing else. Iris and Bianca walked in the door. Herdier and Pansage followed underfoot, appearing unsure in this new place.

"Oh, are these your new pokemon?" Iris's mother asked.

"No, they're Bianca's. Mine are all dragon type, and too big to get let out in your house," Iris said.

"Dragons, huh? Why don't you show us?" Iris's father suggested.

"Yeah, okay! Let's go!" Iris said, then ran out of the room, motioning for her parents and pulling's Bianca's hand to follow her, and they ran out the back door. "I just brought my gym team," Iris explained. "Everyone else is back at home. Anyway, let's go, everyone!" Iris threw out her pokeballs. Haxorus, Druddigon, and Fraxure appeared.

"Wow! Those are some dragons, Iris," her father said.

"I know. I caught and trained them all myself. Well, Fraxure I got as an egg, it was an axew first," Iris began, and chatted all about her pokemon and her adventures training them as Iris's mother got out the food to feed the pokemon.

"I guess that old Drayden wasn't making any mistakes," Iris's father began. "You're really good at this, huh?"

"Of course!" Iris said. "Drayden says I'm even as good as him now."

"Well, let's get your pokemon all fed," Iris's mother said. "Then we made something special for your visit, Iris."

"Alright!" Iris exclaimed. Her mouth was watering already. She was pretty sure her mother had made her favorite. "Let's go, let's hurry up! You guys are hungry too, right?"

"Fraxure!" Fraxure answered for all of them.

When they were done, they all sat at the table with some nice soup. Bianca was happy to eat it up. She noticed Iris was even happier, and smiled. Yes, despite Iris's misgivings, she was very happy at her home. She had several bowls of the soup, then sighed happily. It was then that her parents both turned to Bianca.

"So," Iris's mother began seriously. "Bianca, I guess it's been tough living in Unova right now with all the dangerous pokemon flying around."

"Oh, no, not really," Bianca said. "It's just like normal. People just found something fun to talk about, that's all."

"That's right. Reshiram and Zekrom aren't that dangerous anyway. They might be powerful, but they care about Unova, so they don't attack it," Iris said, then nodded to affirm her feelings.

"Yeah. I've heard some people say they've seen the pokemon," Bianca said. She was going to add that Iris was one of those people, then decided to keep it to herself. That detail would be for Iris to tell if she wanted to. "But they just leave people alone, really." That much was true, as far as she knew, Bianca thought guiltily.

"There's nothing? Watching the story on TV, we thought they were attacking daily," Iris's father said.

Iris shook her head, and Bianca nodded. "Yeah, there's nothing like that," Bianca confirmed.

"That's good to know," Iris's mother said. "Guess you want to run right back over there, don't you, Iris?"

"Of course. I'm finally gym leader, and it's lots of fun!" Iris said. She then frowned, even glowered toward her parents. "You didn't want me to come back and stay, did you?" she asked.

"Well, as long as it's safe enough," Iris's mother said.

"What do you think, Bianca? Is our little girl safe over there?" Iris's father asked.

"Oh, well," Bianca paused, nervous as they were all looking at her. "Iris is the most powerful gym leader in Unova. You should ask her about it."

"Ah, maybe you have a point there," Iris's father said.

"I'm definitely safe! I already met up with Reshiram, and nothing happened," Iris said.

"You don't say." Iris's father shrugged.

"I did, I really did! It was awesome. I was ready for it though. I think I'd be ready for anything."

"Just you be careful," Iris's father said. With that, the subject was dropped.

* * *

A few days later, Iris and Bianca were both saying good-bye. Bianca grinned. It had been a nice break from Unova, coming all the way out there. Iris's parents had been nice, and Iris had fun showing her all around the village of the dragons. Even the pokemon were friendly. It was more common there that the wild pokemon would just walk right up to them. "Don't try and catch them," Iris had warned. "People around here would miss just one of these guys."

Bianca got the idea that they all had missed Iris, too. Everyone they'd seen would happily greet her. Even the bus driver, Bianca recalled as they finally reached the bus stop and sat down. "So, everything went well, huh?" Bianca commented.

"I guess," Iris said with a shrug. "Nothing was really the same though. I didn't feel like anyone still really knew me, even Mom and Dad."

"Oh," Bianca said. That seemed kind of sad. She felt similarly when visiting her own parents, but it must be worse for Iris, being younger and having been gone for even longer. "Well, at least they weren't treating you like a little kid."

"Are you kidding, they were every chance they got!" Iris said. "They're really annoying, always worrying about me like that."

"But Iris, they still let you do what you wanted," Bianca pointed out.

"I know," Iris said. "They really should though."

Bianca said nothing else. Being an outsider to the situation let her look at things from a different point of view. Though she still didn't agree with everything he said, Bianca was starting to understand her father's point of view. He was just worried about her, and trying his best to protect her. Iris's parents were the same, though they were much more liberal with what they allowed her to do.

Her mom was also just concerned about her, Bianca realized. People in gay relationships didn't really have a good time of it. There were a lot of people who thought being in that kind of relationship was morally wrong. That wasn't true, Bianca thought, but the consequences from people who did was undeniable. Even with how wonderful things were with Iris, that was only when they were alone. The majority of the world wouldn't approve of it. Things worked between her and Iris now only because they were both optimistic with each other, and that they had kept it a secret from others.

Even so, they couldn't just do that forever. Iris would inevitably be hurt, and even worse than Bianca, since almost everyone in Unova knew who she was. Bianca herself would be in for a lot of heartbreak were she to continue being girlfriends with Iris, or any other girl. Her mother hadn't been the kind of person to hate others for who they loved, she'd just been considering all of this. That's right, Bianca realized, her mother didn't disapprove, just thought it was too early for Bianca to decide to jump into something like that herself.

And she was right, Bianca concluded. It was even earlier for Iris. As the older one, Bianca might have to be the one to make the difficult decision. When they finally got on their final bus, she decided to bring up the topic. "Iris, you really are pretty young. So of course they worry. Even when you're an adult, they'd still worry."

"Yeah, I guess so," Iris said happily. "It's just super annoying that they treat me like a kid so much."

"But you are a kid," Bianca said. "I am too, it's why my parents worry about me so much."

"Yeah, so you know how I feel, huh?" Iris said casually.

Bianca paused, unsure how to bring up the next part. "Um, well," she began. "Do you ever think it might be too early for us to be 'girlfriends'?" she asked.

"No way. I know lots of people my age with girlfriends and boyfriends," Iris said.

"Any other couples that are, well... Like us?" Bianca asked.

"Hm," Iris said. She wasn't immediately sure what Bianca meant. "Oh!" she eventually exclaimed. "You mean gay. Nope, we're the only ones I know our age. There are probably others though. I just don't know a lot of gay people, that's all."

"There's probably a good reason," Bianca said. "I mean, we're really too young to decide to be girlfriends."

"No we're not," Iris said, frowning now. Why was Bianca saying something like this?

"It's true though," Bianca said. "I told my mom about us... And she wasn't mad or anything, just said we might be too young to decide that."

"Well, that's stupid. We're not too young to decide. We already decided."

"There's more to it than that," Bianca said.

"I don't care! The stupid stuff doesn't matter!" Iris insisted. "Because I really like you, and you like me, right Bianca?"

"Yeah," Bianca confirmed with a smile. Iris felt some relief. It disappeared along with Bianca's smile and next word. "But-"

"Stop!" Iris said, not wanting to hear another word. "Are you dumping me?"

"Well, I guess so," Bianca said sheepishly.

Iris felt her heart breaking as she heard that. It wasn't fair, Iris wanted to shout. It wasn't right for Bianca to listen to something like that and take it into her heart. But she had, and there was nothing Iris could do about it. One second there and the next gone. It hurt so bad. Iris wanted to cry, but she wouldn't let herself. "Fine then, I guess that's that," Iris said simply.

The bus wasn't crowded at all, so it was easy enough for Iris to move out of the seat and to another closer to the front. It pained Bianca to see her go, especially looking so upset. Bianca felt like crying herself. But she kept a straight face. Part of growing up was making tough decisions like this. She was saving both of them even more pain later. Though they both felt awful now, it was better off this way.


	8. The Truth of Love

**8**  
**The Truth of Love**

Iris sat in the gym. She'd just sent another challenger away. Letting her pokemon out, Iris watched idly as they jumped from decorative platform to decorative platform. Sorry, she thought about telling them. She just wasn't in the mood to battle at all, though her pokemon were probably waiting for a battle after the long trip they'd just taken.

Instead, now Iris lay on the marble floor, staring up at the dull ceiling. The whole world had started to seem just as bland as the ceiling since Bianca had dumped her. Iris wanted to go back to when she'd been so hopeful about everything. The world had seemed so bright and welcoming. Both her battling and her relationship with Bianca had been exciting. Right now she couldn't imagine herself being motivated for anything.

Even as she heard the door open again, it was a minute or so before Iris even sat up. She looked around, but didn't notice anyone right away, though she did hear footsteps.. Maybe it was another challenger, or even the same one returned. Iris knew it wasn't fair to refuse the battles, and it wasn't in line with her own goals. She'd battle the trainer if he returned, even though she didn't really feel like it.

As the man approached, Iris saw it wasn't the challenger at all. She immediately sat up. "Grandpa!" she said, feeling a little guilty about being caught loafing around.

"So you made it back safely," Drayden said.

"Yeah," Iris said. She frowned as she spoke.

"I contacted your parents. They're positive about the progress you've made here."

"I know," Iris said gloomily.

"What is it, Iris?" Drayden said, unwilling to ignore the change in her usual demeanor any longer.

Iris frowned, not answering right away. Then she sighed heavily, deciding to just let it out. "My sweetheart dumped me," she said.

"Oh," Drayden said.

Iris frowned. She supposed Drayden just thought of her as a trivial little girl, getting all upset about something meaningless. They'd gotten together then broken up so fast, almost like it wasn't ever that important at all. But it was still important and serious to Iris. "I was really in love. Then just suddenly, it's all over."

"When did it happen?" Drayden asked.

"When we were on the bus ride," Iris said. "Just out of nowhere..."

"Wasn't it your friend Bianca who accompanied you?" Drayden said, a little surprised that Iris might lie.

"Yeah, it was! Bianca's not just my friend, she is my sweetheart! We're girlfriends! Well, we were..." Iris said.

Drayden didn't have much of a reaction, but Iris noticed he briefly looked away as she spoke. "So, you-" he began.

"That's right," Iris said, nodding. "I'm a lesbian. It's not a dirty word you know. I love girls and there's nothing wrong with that."

Drayden still didn't have much of a reaction. Iris began to get nervous as he didn't speak. Maybe she'd really blurted out something stupid. "Um-" she began.

"Come with me, Iris. We'll close the gym for today."

Iris nodded. She walked slowly down the dragon-shaped platforms, returning each pokemon as she found it on her way out. Drayden was going to scold her, she was sure of it. It made her sad to think of it, but she was also angry. There really was nothing wrong with what she'd said, was there. It made sense that Drayden would disapprove, though.

They said nothing as they walked back home. Then Drayden sat down at the table, and silently motioned for Iris to sit across from him. "You understand we required privacy for this conversation," he said.

"I guess," Iris said.

"You will take care with what you say and how you say it in public," Drayden added.

Iris let out a noise of frustration. "Why?! Why is it so bad just to talk about it? I guess me being me is really so terrible," she said miserably.

"I understand your upset. But you'll do best to sort out your feelings and just return to your duties."

"I get it," Iris said, slumping over on the table. "I'm not a straight girl, so I'm not the kind of successor that you want. So you just want me to keep quiet. Don't worry, I understand," Iris said.

"Iris, I can't deny that I have hopes for your future. But it is your future, and it will be built from your own decisions," Drayden said.

Iris sat up and nodded. Drayden wasn't like her parents at all. He regarded her the same as any adult for the most part, even when she said childish things. She'd do her best to be worthy of that kind of respect. There'd be no more whining, she decided to speak to Drayden seriously. "I don't care about being in the closet or anything like that. I'm not ashamed."

"But you are very young, Iris," Drayden said.

Iris frowned, feeling a rush of anger, but still did her best to address this maturely. "I still know my own feelings," she said. "I'm a lesbian. Please don't say anything like I'm too young to know. I'm not going to change my mind later. You don't really believe something stupid like that, do you?"

"No," Drayden said, shaking his head. "It is possible, but I don't believe you're likely to change your mind. My own feelings surfaced when I was about your age, and my preferences never changed, not for lack of trying."

Iris was silent for a moment as what Drayden had said sunk in. She initially assumed he was talking about his straight leanings, but it kind of seemed he was saying something else. "Drayden, are you gay?" Iris asked.

"That's not my lifestyle. However, yes, it is where my preferences lie," Drayden admitted.

Iris scratched her head, considering that for a moment. She'd never really thought that much about Drayden in that respect. Besides being an awesome dragon-type trainer and dutiful mayor, he was just an old guy who had lived alone before she'd come around. He'd never married, Iris had known that much. "That can't be good for you," Iris said. "So you just stayed alone all this time? Don't you want to find a partner you can love?"

"It's something I've desired in the past. But love is fickle and fleeting, so I've chosen other things over it. I've been successful both as a pokemon trainer and a mayor. I have no regrets."

"That can't be true," Iris insisted. "Other people have been successful and still found love. It's not a choice between the two. Lots of mayors, gym leader, all of that! They're even married, some of them." Iris paused. "But I guess that's just the straight ones. Only straight people can have it all, huh?"

"Yes. That's how it is," Drayden confirmed. "Some have their romance celebrated and approved, while others are shunned and ostracized."

"That's not fair!" Iris said.

"I won't coddle you and shelter you, Iris. This is the truth. No matter what your decision happens to be, you're need to be armed with it. Do you understand what I've said?"

"I understand what you believe. I just don't believe it too. I'm going to be the greatest master of dragon pokemon, maybe even champion, and I'll have a wonderful girlfriend too. There's nothing wrong with wanting any of that, huh?"

"All actions have consequences," Drayden explained calmly. "If you choose to be open about your preferences to others, it will be detrimental to everything else you wish to accomplish."

"How would you know, anyway? You don't know what will happen, because you just decided to be a coward your whole life," Iris said.

"Iris!" Drayden exclaimed.

Iris looked down. She regretted what she'd said as soon as she'd said it. "Sorry," she said.

Drayden nodded. He stood up and looked to the window. "When it comes to the public, I would advise you to keep your own preferences obscured and secret, as they are now."

"That's stupid. I don't have to act like I've got some kind of big, shameful secret," Iris said.

"You don't have to. You'll make your own decisions, even if it's for the more difficult path. As long as you understand your consequences, our conversation is over."

"I do understand," Iris said. She clenched her jaw. What Drayden was saying was true, wasn't it? If she came out as a lesbian, there was a high probability that she'd lose her popularity in the controversy, and no longer be Unova's golden girl. So she either had to lie about herself or give up everything she'd gained and continued to work for. "I understand everything, and it makes me angry!"

"Good. Then give it some thought, Iris. I can only advise you. For this matter, it's your decision to make."

Iris nodded seriously. She stood up and faced Drayden. "I'll get back to my training for today," she said. She was going to give it some thought, but still had only anger when thinking about the topic. It wouldn't be fair to her pokemon to have a gym battle with anger fueling her decisions. They'd just do some routine training for now. The exercise might help her think.

* * *

Professor Juniper had put Bianca to work in her lab the moment she'd gotten back after some brief conversation. Bianca had been helping the professor pack, and stood aside as the professor seemed to agonize over what equipment to take from her crowded lab. "I really shouldn't take too much advantage of you being here by bringing twice as much, should I?"

"Oh no, Professor. I'm happy to help," Bianca said.

"Are you sure it won't be too much trouble to come with me for this entire expedition?" the professor asked.

"No! I enjoy being your assistant. Since I have pokemon, I can even bodyguard, Professor," Bianca said.

"Yes! It would be a lot of help to have you along," the professor said, nodding. She then turned back to her equipment.

"But Professor," Bianca began.

"Hm?" Professor Juniper said as she turned around.

"Um, well, where are you going, exactly?" Bianca asked.

"Of course," the professor began, then turned to her desk. "I should have told you all about that before even asking for you help." The professor pointed to the bulleted area of the map on her wall.

"Dragonspiral tower?" Bianca said.

"Yes. I don't really buy into rumors, but I do believe there's some kind of unknown pokemon, maybe more than one, that's been passing for Reshiram, maybe also Zekrom. I absolutely want to study it." The professor paused. "Well, of course, it's not necessarily there, but that's where a reliable first-hand sighting was. That new young gym leader Iris seems to have a good head on her shoulders. You're good friends with her, aren't you? Would you agree?"

"Yes," Bianca confirmed. Just thinking of Iris made her sad. She recalled when they'd said good-bye to each other before. It had been so natural just to hug and kiss Iris during their previous farewells. Understandably, this one was different. Bianca still thought her decision was for the best, but had felt so bad when Iris had refused to even look at her, let alone embrace and wish for the next time they'd meet.

"So, what do you think of her claim, if you'd mind sharing?" Professor Juniper asked.

"Oh, I definitely think she was telling the truth. Iris wouldn't make something like that up," Bianca said.

"Yes, I agree. She was quite the little skeptic when the rumors first started going around. I'd like to see for myself the pokemon that she was positive was Reshiram," Professor Juniper said.

"Would that pokemon just show up there again, though?" Bianca asked.

"Well, we'll have to go there for ourselves to investigate that possibility. Even if it doesn't, there's sure to be some clues," Professor Juniper said. She turned back to her desk, then to her lab, to plan exactly how their expedition might go.

* * *

Out of the last five challengers, Iris and her pokemon had won against four. The challengers had all provided really fun, difficult battles, too. Iris had concluded that they deserved to celebrate. She turned up the television loud, and tried to drown out the heartbreak that was still very much present. She smiled and laughed loudly so no one would be able to guess it. Maybe she'd eventually fool herself into forgetting about it.

It had been so loud that she hadn't even noticed as Drayden entered. "Iris!" he shouted. "Iris!" he shouted again, before Iris finally noticed.

"Oh, Grandpa," Iris said, looking up guiltily. "We were just gonna clean up. Right guys? Let's all clean up!"

All three pokemon let out noises of agreement. Haxorus stood up, knocking a table over. Drayden began to look annoyed. "You know this room isn't designed to accommodate your pokemon. You'll clean up yourself."

"Right," Iris said. She returned her pokemon to the pokeballs, then looked around the room. This would take a while, especially to clean to Drayden's expectations. She noticed that despite his insisting that she clean up her own mess, he had already picked everything off the table and began to polish it. She took her remaining snacks and went to put them away.

Two hours later, with Drayden's help, she'd finished. Iris turned the TV back down. She then changed it from the music channel to the news. It had seemed that they weren't talking much about Reshiram and Zekrom anymore. Before Iris could consider that they'd given up, artist images of the two legendary pokemon flashed on the screen.

"That again," Iris said with a sigh. "They're just talking about nothing by now."

"They ought to wait until they have confirmation, but this news is of interest and importance to residents of Unova," Drayden said.

"Do you have confirmation yet?" Iris asked. "I know what I saw, anyway."

"I believe you, however, eyewitness accounts are never enough," Drayden said.

Iris shrugged. "I hope they can talk about something other than my 'eyewitness' or whatever when they interview me tomorrow," she said.

"Right. There's that. Don't say too much about the incident you witnessed during then, Iris," Drayden told her.

"I know, I know," Iris said. Drayden had told her this near constantly. She had a lot to say, but Drayden was right in that it was speculation and would add to all the needless panic. "I hope I don't have to talk about that topic at all," she added.

Drayden nodded. "I know you understand," he said. "Now, when you're finished with that, I'll require your assistance elsewhere," he said.

"Really?" Iris said. "Where would that be?"

"Entralink. Fennel told me activity has been increasing there, and I'd like to investigate."

"Alright! So we're going to bust into Entralink like some outlaws?" Iris said.

"Never. Make no mistake that I have permission to use my own discretion to enter Entralink when necessary," Drayden said.

Iris pouted. "Yeah, I know," she said. It had just been fun to frame their 'investigation' there that way. "I've been curious about that place! I definitely want to go see what's there!"

"It's just to investigate any suspicious activity. We won't be able to look around beyond the very surface."

"Yeah, I've got it," Iris said. The idea of going to Entralink left her with a excited feeling. She'd almost forgot about feeling bad, she thought to herself. Then she remembered why she'd been feeling bad and frowned again. Even with all she had to look forward to, she still couldn't forget what happened. Maybe it was spoiled to be so effected just by not having a girlfriend anymore with everything else awesome in her life, but Bianca had just been that important to her.

* * *

"We could stay here," Professor Juniper said, looking up at the quaint inn. "Or, we could move along further. I think there's still maybe an hour left of daylight."

"But then what could we see when we got there, Professor?" Bianca asked.

"Hm, that might be a good point. We'll just stay here then."

Icirrus City always seemed chilly, no matter what the time of year. Bianca helped stow the equipment in their rented room, then went back down to the lobby. There was a nice selection of tea that would warm her up.

"My thoughts exactly."

Bianca grinned over at the professor, who reached next to her to get her own selected tea. As Bianca moved over to where the hot water was, a familiar voice caught her ear. "Yeah! I've had a lot of gym battles even already. Everyone's been awesome. I hope people keep coming to challenge me. I'd like more and more interesting challengers."

Bianca turned around and saw Iris chattering away on the television to a reporter. The bottom of the screen labeled the program as a live exclusive interview. Bianca observed that Iris was smiling again, seeming really happy and excited. Bianca felt happy for her, then remembered the last time she'd seen Iris happy, then been the person to break that happiness to bits. Bianca turned away, concentrating on the various types of sugar or sweetener she might put in her drink.

"Oh, there's Iris," Professor Juniper said.

"Y-Yeah," Bianca said with a nod.

"You'll want to see this, won't you? Let's relax down here for a bit then."

Bianca nodded. She didn't want to explain to the professor why she really didn't want to watch. There was no harm in watching a news program, anyway. Bianca sat down at the small table nearby the television, and began to listen more.

The announcer began with her next set of questions. "So, Iris, you've seen the legendary Reshiram yourself, haven't you? And in person?"

"Oh, well, I think everyone's heard enough about that," Iris said.

"Oh, I know our viewers are eager to hear about your experience! Can you tell us exactly what happened?"

"Well, I know many of your viewers have just heard enough. So I just won't blab all about it again, for their sake."

Iris smiled back at the reporter as she said this. The reporter finally gave up after that comment. Across from Bianca, Professor Juniper put down her cup, then folded her arms. "Hm."

"Professor?" Bianca turned away from the TV and toward her.

"Do you think Iris is back peddling on her account?"

"Oh, no," Bianca said. "Iris told me Drayden's made a point of her just not talking about it. She was definitely telling the truth though."

"Hm, good. I didn't want anything to dampen the excitement for tomorrow's mission," the professor said.

"I'm sure it'll be interesting no matter what," Bianca said.

"Yes! You know, others around town have said that they've seen something that they think is Reshiram over in the distance as well. They might just have seen what they wanted to, but who knows?"

Bianca nodded at Professor Juniper's stories. She turned back to Iris and the continuing interview on the television after the professor had finished. "You're really a busy young lady, aren't you, Iris? But how about your personal life? Is there anyone special?"

Bianca got the inference, and could see from the television that Iris did too. She tensed up a moment, and gave the reporter a bewildered look. It was only for a split second before she put on her smile again. "There's no one right now," she said.

"Ah! So you're single? The young men of Unova still have a chance?" the reporter asked. Iris's facial expression faltered again and she paused. She looked away from the reporter and camera. Bianca held her breath, feeling sympathy and wishing the moment would end quickly and painlessly. The pause was long enough that the reporter continued. "Oh? Are you shy about this topic, Iris?"

"Oh, no," Iris said, putting on her cheerful face again. "There's no one. I guess the guys still have a chance with me," she said sheepishly.

Bianca took a deep breath again. So, Iris was starting to understand, maybe. At least she showed some constraint with this topic when in the public eye. It didn't really please Bianca to see her obvious hurt, but at least Iris would now have a chance to think about if she still wanted to live with that stigma for a while before jumping right into it.

* * *

The interview was finally over. Iris stepped out of the bright spotlight by the camera, and over to the side. People still bustled around her, but no one bothered her. She wanted to cry, and hoped she could find her way to the exit soon.

The reporter that had interviewed her rushed over her way, delaying her escape. "Oh, thank you, Iris. You did really well out there."

"Yeah, and thanks for having me on," Iris said.

"It was my pleasure! Maybe you could come on again sometime?"

"Oh, maybe," Iris said, spying toward the exit.

The reporter saw her body language and misread it. "Oh, I'm so sorry, if you'd like me to avoid that topic in the future, I will. I didn't know there was anything that would make you clam up."

"Yeah, you can ask me all you want about Reshiram and Zekrom, I'll just have to answer the same."

"Oh, I meant the boyfriend thing," the reporter said with a wink.

Iris could have rolled her eyes. Instead she retained her politeness and continued the conversation as briefly as she could before she left. In the lobby, Drayden was waiting for her. Iris hadn't been expecting it, but he had said that he wanted to get on his way as soon as possible. "You're ready to go right away, huh?" she said.

"We'll set out in the morning. Let's just go home now," Drayden said.

Iris nodded. They left, going toward the pokemon center, where they'd borrow some flying pokemon to get back home in the quickly fading daylight.

"You handled yourself well, as usual," Drayden said. Iris stopped walking. As Drayden noticed and looked back at her, she just looked back at him, frowning. "Iris?" Drayden said.

"I'm just a coward too, huh?" Iris said.

"I wouldn't describe you that way."

"It's true," Iris said. "I'm not scared of anything when I'm out battling with my dragon pokemon, that's why I can do anything. I'm scared right now though. You know? And I couldn't do anything. That's what a coward is."

"You have the rest of your life to decide what action you may want to take," Drayden said.

"I'm too scared to do anything," Iris said. "I don't want people to hate me. I didn't want my mom and dad to find out in the news and start to hate me. I didn't want to lose anything I have. So I just lied."

"It's perfectly understandable, Iris," Drayden said.

"Yeah," Iris said. "I guess I understood you when push came to shove."

"You can change your mind later," Drayden said.

"I guess I won't, though," Iris said, sighing and forcing a smile. "I'll just keep lying forever. Because you're right, you know? It's better to have all I do right now than lose everything because I couldn't stay in the closet. My life's not that bad. It's pretty great."

Drayden nodded. He began walking forward again. But Iris remained. Looking back, he saw her silently crying. "Iris," he said, then reached forward to hug her.

Iris moved away, smiling and wiping her eyes. "I'm fine, don't worry about me, Grandpa," she said. "The truth is the truth, right? Let's forget about it. We have to make sure we're ready for tomorrow." With that, Iris looked forward, then ran to the door to the pokemon center as the sun set.


	9. Abandon Impractical Ideals

**9**  
**Abandon Impractical Ideals**

Iris awoke early with excitement. She was able to shake off her disappointment from the other day, she really had to be excited. Hardly anyone got to go to Entralink. There was a lot of speculation as to what was actually there. Iris had just been on the outskirts before, and was sure it was nothing, but still, she wanted to explore it for herself. Today she'd get that chance, at least to some extent.

Iris made sure her room was spotless. That way Drayden would have less of a chance to stall, though he would still if he needed or wanted to, she knew. But when she went downstairs, she saw that Drayden was already up. He was out in the garden, doing some morning exercises with his pokemon. Iris, disappointed that he was ahead of her, went outside and went to complete the exercise routine alone with her pokemon herself.

Drayden finished before her, having started first. He went inside, then went out to greet Iris when she and had finished. "Iris, it seems we'll have to delay our trip."

"No way!" Iris said. "You've waited long enough, right? You really have to see what's going on, don't you?"

"That's true. But there's a report of new activity elsewhere, nearby Icirrus City. The mayor has asked me to investigate personally, and I can't refuse her request," Drayden said.

"Why not?" Iris said. "Well, I could go to Entralink by myself, right? I know how we're supposed to deal with everything there," Iris said.

"It wouldn't be appropriate for me to assign you that task alone, Iris," Drayden said.

Iris just shrugged. She hadn't really been expecting him to just let her go by herself. "Yeah, I understand," she said.

"However, I believe you're someone I can trust to go and observe. Going to Entralink alone would be irresponsible, but you may wait from a distance and report on anything until I arrive," Drayden said.

"Alright!" Iris said happily. "You'll hurry up, won't you?" she said. Seeing Drayden's cross expression, she nervously giggled. "Just kidding. I'll wait patiently, even though I can't wait to go."

"You'll remember your responsibilities," Drayden said.

Iris nodded seriously. Drayden went off right away, and she was left to prepare by herself. Her bag was already ready, so she ran and got it, then went right to the pokemon center, bright and early. She walked up to Nurse Joy. "Hey! Morning!" Iris greeted her.

"Iris!" Joy greeted her with a smile. "Is the mayor on his way?"

"Nope. I'll be heading there before Grandpa does. You can help me out, right?" Iris said.

"Of course. Should I give you all of the pokemon, or will Drayden be on his way soon?"

"Better give me them all!" Iris said. She was surprised that Joy gave her a dozen pokeballs. "Isn't this a little much?" Iris asked.

"No," Joy said. "Maybe it's not enough, but it's what I can spare to loan you at the moment. These munna are well-trained, but if you'll actually be in Entralink, you really can't take too many precautions."

"Is it really that bad there?" Iris asked.

"I've never been there myself," Joy admitted. "But there are a lot of munna there already. If those munna feel threatened, you'll need every bit of help you can get."

"Yeah, okay," Iris said. She began to feel a little nervous. If a whole swarm of munna was going to come after her, she might not be able to tell left from right in order to counter them. "Thanks, Nurse Joy."

Iris put the pokeballs with the munna in a separate pouch from her other pokeballs so they wouldn't get mixed up. She got another pokeball from Joy with a pokemon to fly her to Entralink. Still excited, Iris flew off from Opelucid, and to Entralink. She was disappointed that she couldn't really see anything there as she approached. Even when she landed, it just seemed to be a normal, quiet day. Looking across the way at Entralink, Iris couldn't see anything that was different from the landscape she was already standing on, though the perfect round shape had been odd from the air.

Sighing, Iris returned the pokemon and put the pokeball to the side. She then took out the dozen munna pokeballs, and threw them out one at a time. The entire swarm was soon obediently floating above her. "You guys are ready for when me and Drayden go over there, right?" Iris asked.

"Mu!" a munna responded cheerfully, then the others echoed it. Iris had felt a little wary of going to Entralink before, but seeing all of the munna so jolly and confident washed away any remaining anxiety she had. There had to be something cool in Entralink, Iris thought, but it wasn't anything to be too scared of. She'd just wait for Drayden. Then she'd be able to see whatever it was.

The minutes dragged on. With just watching and waiting, the time passed even slower than usual. Iris tried her best to wait before checking to see how long it had been since the last time she'd looked, but found herself checking again. It had only been ten minutes. Iris laid back on the ground, frowning. She watched the munna circling above her, feeling bored.

With the excitement fading, Iris found her negative feelings from the previous night returning. She couldn't judge Bianca or Drayden at all, could she? She'd come to the same conclusion as them when the pressure was on. There were gay people out there who didn't live like them, but in part because of what happened to them, Iris had made her decision.

She recalled when she'd first come to Unova and Opelucid. During one of her first weekends, she'd seen a colorful parade out in the street. It was her free time, so she ran out without asking Drayden first. She'd just wanted to watch, and had invited out her first pokemon, then still a fraxure, to watch with her. She'd talked to the people in the parade, and they'd been nice to her. One person even had given Fraxure a rainbow-colored flag to wave.

The participants that talked to Iris were nice and jovial. But others seemed angry, shouting stuff that Iris hadn't really bothered to pay attention to as she kept having fun. After a while, Drayden had stepped into the crowd. Then everyone had gotten angry. Iris had been kind of confused. She walked closer and tried to listen in.

Nobody made that much sense, Iris had thought then. At the center, Drayden had spoken calmly, and they all interrupted him and shouted. He eventually brushed them aside, and pushed through the crowd, grabbing Iris's hand. "Iris, come with me," Drayden had said.

Iris's first reaction had been to say she wanted to stay, but the tension from both Drayden as well as everyone else around her left her silent. When they had gotten back home, Iris finally spoke. "What's wrong, Grandpa? Why'd I have to go?"

"That parade is all related to politics, Iris. I don't want you to participate," Drayden had explained.

"They're real mad at you, huh?" Iris had said. "Why?"

"They believe I'm not doing enough for their issues."

"But you work hard," Iris had said. Though Drayden trained pokemon and was a gym leader, Iris had noticed since she arrived that he spent the majority of the day dealing with his duties as a mayor. "You do everything. They shouldn't get so mad, should they?"

"I can only do so much. I don't want you getting involved, Iris, but these people have a right to their anger. I can't accomplish all they'd wish me to for everyone like them."

"Like them? Like what?" Iris had said. There was nothing about the people in the parade that would group them together.

"They're gay," Drayden had said. Then he stopped himself. "That is-"

"Oh," Iris had said. At that time, she didn't know she was herself, but she still knew what words like 'gay' meant. "That's no big deal, right? Even if someone's gay, it's not that important. They're just the same as everyone else. They shouldn't have any issues at all!"

"That's now how everyone feels, Iris. And they do have very pressing issues. Their legal rights are under constant political attack, and they face personal violence as well," Drayden had said.

Sitting and staring at Entralink now, Iris recalled the conversation with some embarrassment. She hadn't taken what Drayden was saying seriously at all, though it was kind of a serious topic. She'd just insisted that gay people should have no problems at all that other people didn't normally have, since they were normal and all. Iris realized it would be nice if little things like this didn't matter, but it wasn't true. Drayden knew that well. So did Bianca, that was why she'd ended their relationship. Despite her naïve optimism, on some level, Iris herself had also known.

Iris clenched the grass nearby her feet. Her lip quivered as she continued to watch the munna flowing through the air. Her vision blurred as the beginnings of tears entered her eyes. She really had been naïve, Iris thought to herself. That was why she couldn't have Bianca's love. She knew more now, but she wasn't willing to accept any hardships that she'd face at all. Iris had wanted to hate Bianca at first, but she couldn't, really. Iris still loved her. Besides, Bianca had only been thinking of her, knowing a truth that Iris herself refused to see.

Iris wiped her eyes and tried to put on a smile. She shouldn't be sad. Even if she had to wait a while, she'd be going to Entralink. How many other would-be explorers would be completely jealous of her at this point? Iris stood up and stared at the island. Still nothing, oh well.

Iris sat back down and just relaxed. She could count the munna that were swirling above her, but she already knew there were twelve, and besides, she didn't want to miss anything if she went to sleep. But it had been a full day yesterday, and she had woken up early, then even doing some extra exercise. So, all the pink, flowery pokemon floating around above her did make her kind of drowsy.

"Mu!" a munna shouted in warning. Iris opened her eyes. She hadn't been sleeping, at least not for long. She saw the munna were all coming closer to her. Standing up, she looked to Entralink again. There were a lot of munna there as well. They were circling close to the shore. Iris took a step closer despite the whining warnings of her borrowed munna.

"Hey!" Iris called. The wild munna all looked in her direction from across the moat. "You all don't have to worry. I know Drayden, he just wanted me to keep an eye on you for a while."

With that, only more munna came. Iris tried not to show any fear as they started to float over the moat in great numbers. "H-Hey, I know you're protecting this place, but I'm just staying over here, I promise," Iris said.

"No need," a deep voice resonated from the island.

Iris looked up, taking a deep breath. Maybe the munna's illusions had already gotten to her. But they should leave her alone if she stayed over here, shouldn't they? "Hello?" Iris called. She looked forward at the wild munna. They packed themselves together. When they stopped moving, they resembled a bridge of some sort. Iris looked up and over the pokemon-bridge, and then gasped.

"Zekrom!" Iris shouted, pointing at the large, black pokemon that stood alone on the island.

"That's correct. You're free to join me here, traveler," Zekrom said.

"Oh, um, yeah, I can't," Iris said. She looked at the munna. "I don't want to step on the cute little heads of those munna. Also, I promised I wouldn't go to Entralink alone."

"Very well," Zekrom said. "In that case, I'll join you there."

The munna cleared out, swarming back onto Entralink and getting out of sight. Zekrom flew, seemingly jumping over the moat. Iris grinned, and stopped herself from clapping, though it was what she wanted to do. The legendary pokemon of ideals just appearing in front of her was beyond amazing.

"You say Drayden asked you to keep watch?" Zekrom asked.

"Yeah. You know him?" Iris asked.

"Yes, though I would question if he remembers me. I had hoped to see him. He may be able to help me with my current task, which is proving very difficult."

"What? What is it? I'm Drayden's protégé, Iris. I'm pretty much as powerful as him, so I bet I could help!" Iris blurted out. She didn't want to brag, but she also didn't want Zekrom to underestimate her. Iris was eager to help with anything this pokemon might ask for. She'd help the living legend as much as she could.

"I'm seeking a stand-in for my hero. Years ago, Drayden's heart was close to being able to support me, though still faulty. I'd like to think he's strengthened his resolve in his ideals since."

"I could be your hero, Zekrom!" Iris insisted. "I'm a really strong pokemon trainer, a dragon trainer! You're a dragon type pokemon, right? I know a lot about them! I can be your partner!"

"Very well," Zekrom said. "A powerful pokemon trainer would be a good stand-in for my hero. I'll just need to test the strength of your heart to see if you're able. May I?"

"Oh," Iris said. "How does that work? Is this just gonna take me into the illusions on your island?"

"I have no intention of that. These munna are just ensuring the security of Unova by protecting Entralink. If they make you uncomfortable, we can go elsewhere."

"Like where?"

"I'd like to fly over my beautiful region again. We can go any place you'd like."

"Really?" Iris said, unable to contain her enthusiasm. "I can go flying with you, Zekrom?"

"Yes," Zekrom confirmed. "Climb on."

Iris grinned. Not only flying next to Zekrom, but the legend would carry her itself? Iris couldn't refuse an invitation like that. She jumped on Zekrom. The pokemon took off, flying above much faster and smoother than any pokemon Iris had even flown with before. Iris shouted in her excitement, then looked down. They were far above Unova the land now, again much higher than she'd flown before.

"Tell me, do you know my region well?" Zekrom asked.

"Um, well, I think so. But I just moved here, you know?" Iris said. "I grew up some place else."

"And how do you like it?" Zekrom asked.

"I love it!" Iris said. "It's super exciting, and even more fun than it was back home. I just want to stay here forever."

"I'm happy to here that, and I know my hero would have been as well. We created this region together with the hope it would be cherished for those sought their ideals."

"Really?" Iris said. "That's not how I heard it happened."

"What story do they tell about us today?" Zekrom asked.

"Well, there's a couple, but none are like that. People mostly talk about how you and Reshiram fought a lot. But that's not true, huh? You have no reason to fight Reshiram, since you used to be the same pokemon and all, right?" Iris said.

"That's wrong," Zekrom said.

"Oh, so you never were? I thought that was weird," Iris said.

"No, it's true we used to be one and the same. Now we're two separate entities, and will never be a whole again. But do you know what might rip any being into two separate ones, Iris? It happened because the part of me that is now Reshiram contained something truly detestable. There's plenty of reason to fight a pokemon like that."

"But what's that?" Iris asked, frowning with her concern. "Reshiram represents truth, right? Grandpa - I mean Drayden says there's no reason for truth and ideals to be in conflict."

"He said something like that? Then there's no reason for me to seek him out as a possible new hero," Zekrom said.

"Why not?" Iris asked.

"Well, a young heart like your's may understand," Zekrom said.

It flew off quickly, and Iris hung on tightly. It flew all over Unova, keeping high in the air. Iris gasped and pointed at the various familiar and unfamiliar landmarks. When they were done, they landed back at Entralink. Iris saw the dozen borrowed pokemon coming back to her. This hadn't been an illusion. It had been really fun trip. Iris grinned up at Zekrom. "Thanks, Zekrom! I really love the region you created. It's awesome!"

"Again, I'm pleased to hear that. But to answer your question, I'll let you know that it was only through many hard-won battles that Unova could be the way it is today. Even now, I can't say it's perfect, can you?"

Iris frowned, then shook her head.

"That's because we have a long way to go. My hero knew that some ideals couldn't be realized in the short life of a human. That's why I need a new hero, and before Reshiram finds its own," Zekrom explained.

Iris nodded. Her ideal might be that she'd be a hero for Reshiram and Zekrom both, but it seemed that was impossible.

"Drayden now preaches pacifism, and Reshiram will as well, saying the search for ideals causes only strife. But passively accepting the truth and refusing to progress, that's a suffering all on its own."

Iris swallowed nervously. Wasn't this exactly how she was? She had her ideals, and when faced with the truth, that not everyone shared them, she'd just tossed them to the side without a fight. If Zekrom were to test her heart, it would probably see that. Iris had fantasized about being a 'hero with the strength to pursue ideals' before upon hearing it in all the stories, but knew that she fell short. Iris was willing to fight for what she knew she could achieve, but wasn't strong enough to take the risk and fight like a hero of ideals would be.

"So, Iris, do you understand?" Zekrom asked.

"Yes," Iris said.

"Good. Then, may I test your heart to see if you can stand in for my departed hero?" Zekrom asked.

"There's no reason to do that," Iris said. She looked at the legendary pokemon and smiled again. "I understand, but I don't agree."

"Why not?" Zekrom asked.

Iris could hear the pokemon's frustration, and was saddened that she had caused it. "I guess I'm a pacifist too. Things aren't ideal, but the truth isn't so bad. Fighting might mess things up. So I really wouldn't be a good hero of ideals."

"I see," Zekrom said.

"I wish it was different though. I understand you, Zekrom. I wish I could be more like your hero. But right now, I know I've failed," Iris said.

"I can sense strength from you, Iris. I hope time changes you as well. I wish you all the courage you need to seek your ideals."

Iris nodded. She kept her eyes on Zekrom as it flew out of her sight, and back to the darkened island of Entralink. She might have missed a great opportunity. Being the a modern hero for Zekrom sounded really neat. But Iris pushed the daydreams of her life as a hero of a legendary pokemon out of her head. The person she was now was a person who just accepted the truth. Drayden told her she was young, that she could change her mind, but that was just the way it was at the moment.

Iris turned away. She returned every single one of the borrowed munna to their pokeballs. There was nothing left to do here, really. Zekrom was here, and there was no reason for anyone who wasn't going to be its new hero to be. Drayden may want to go check it out, but Iris had a feeling he may just come to the same conclusions she had. Iris picked up her Xtransceiver to contact him and let him know.


	10. New Hero of Truth

_Author's Note_  
_I originally started this story and its companion story (New Hero of Ideals) with the idea to eventually bring them both together with a sequel which would _really _deal with the Zekrom Vs. Reshiram conflict. To be honest, I haven't started it, though I have something of an outline of what I'd like to write. I don't promise to finish it, but I do promise if I ever start posting it, I'll finish it - I don't post WIPs that I haven't yet completed at least a rough draft of. I've also started a one-shot in this verse that features Drayden which I think I'll finish, but again, no promises._

_I hope you all enjoyed this story at any rate. Here's the last chapter._

**10**  
**New Hero of Truth**

Bianca placed her bag carefully on the nightstand. Then she went outside with the flashlight to help Professor Juniper carry in the rest. "Thank you, Bianca," Professor Juniper said. "Did you enjoy meeting with everyone?"

"Yes," Bianca said with a nod. Meeting Professor Juniper's father and his colleagues had been interesting. Everyone seemed so much smarter than her, but they were much more experienced. Talking with them was interesting though. They all had a different perspective on the appearances of the legendary pokemon. Everyone's perspective brought something different to the table. Even Gary's, and he wasn't familiar with Unova's legends at all.

"It could be just some unfamilar pokemon from another region flying around. They know people are interested in them, and they love the attention," Gary had suggested. "Lugia's white and can fly, and there are some larger known black-colored pokemon too."

"However Gary, you must know that there can been a lot witnesses to the various appearances. They aren't really isolated incidences anymore," the younger Professor Juniper had pointed out.

"Yeah, a lot of them don't know what they saw, like my buddy Ash," Gary had said.

"Iris knew exactly what she saw," Bianca had said.

"Yeah, so she says," Gary had said. Bianca had frowned. Gary could be nice, but sometimes was arrogant and condescending. "Well, that's why we're here, right?" Gary had said. Indeed, they'd been there all day, setting up various surveillance. But there had been no sign of Reshiram. "Well, some ghost types have been known to cause illusions, just like the munna around here do, except a little different."

"Oh! That might explain a lot!"

Everyone had been impressed with Gary's deductions. Well, then shouldn't they find traces of those ghost pokemon here, or at least traces of dream mist or something? Bianca knew their observations there would help them solve the mystery. She believed in what Iris had told everyone, and it was a great clue. They'd only find out more by coming where Iris had seen the legendary pokemon.

But right now, she was exhausted. Bianca lay down on the bed, hugging the pillow. "Bianca?" Professor Juniper called.

"Yes?" Bianca slowly sat up and looked at the professor.

The professor smiled, then sighed. "Oh, I'm feeling tired myself. But it's been an exciting day, hasn't it?"

"Yes!" Bianca said. She was eager for tomorrow, to see what else they'd find. "I'm really interested in this pokemon research. Thanks for letting me come with you, Professor."

"Oh, no, I'll have to thank you again and again. I may have to hire someone to take your place permanently."

"Take my place?" Bianca asked.

"Well, the job would be your's if you wanted it," Professor Juniper said. Bianca beamed. "It's a relief to have someone to help with all of the menial jobs, and I can also see that assistants like Gary have helped my father."

"I see," Bianca said, beginning to think of how fun traveling with the professor might be.

"What do you think of Gary, anyway?" the professor asked.

"Oh," Bianca said, then paused a moment. She didn't dislike Gary, despite his quirks. She also didn't know him well enough to think much about him at all. "He's interesting," Bianca finally said to the professor.

"Oh, really?" the professor said with a wry smile. "Why don't you ask him on a date while we're here? I'm sure there would be enough time for that for both of you after we've finished," Professor Juniper said.

"Oh, no," Bianca said, blushing. She'd had enough of that kind of thing for the moment. She wasn't even sure she was into boys, or girls, or maybe both. In any case, she'd decided that she'd rather concentrate on other things. "He's too old for me, isn't he?" she said.

"Not really. He started training fairly young. They do that in Kanto. Right now he's fifteen. That's only a little older than you, isn't it, Bianca?"

Bianca nodded. There was maybe about as much age difference between her and Gary as there was between her and Iris. It didn't really mater that much, anyway.

"So why don't you ask?"

Bianca frowned. There was a lot of emphasis on her dating boys, from her parents and now even the professor. "That's not what I'm here to do," Bianca said.

The professor nodded. "So you're just like me, Bianca. I was too wrapped up in my research for any of that."

Bianca smiled and nodded. It wasn't exactly like that, but it was a good way to get out of this topic of conversation. "What will we be doing tomorrow, Professor?" Bianca asked.

"Just more of the same. But you know, you'll think it's silly, but I've put up heat sensors throughout the tower. Reshiram was likely a fire-type, you know. I'm hoping if it does come, it will set something off. Thought it's more likely to just pick up wild pokemon."

"I hope it picks up Reshiram too," Bianca said. She smiled, then straightened her hat before finally taking it off. It was time to go to sleep.

* * *

When Bianca awoke the next morning, there was little light shining in. She heard the door to the bathroom shut. "Professor?" Bianca said, rubbing her eyes.

"Oh, Bianca, I'm sorry, did I wake you?" Professor Juniper said.

"Yeah, it's alright," Bianca said sleepily. "Are you getting started already?" she asked.

"Well, I wouldn't push it, but if you're up to it, I'd definitely like to," the professor said.

"I'm up to it," Bianca said. She got up, feeling a little groggy. After getting dressed, she soon caught on to the professor's excitement. She was up for the repetitive work. They arrived at the tower as the sun was barely rising. Bianca took out the large lamp. She tried not to trip and she and the professor climbing up.

They really did need to be careful, Bianca knew. The old building was falling apart, and had a lot of obstacles. She had learned her way around pretty well during the past few days, and knew exactly where to go, even with the limited light. They were headed right to the top, where most of the monitoring equipment had been set up. Bianca sighed as she saw the last staircase. They were almost there.

Something began to beep. Bianca peered behind herself and looked at Professor Juniper. "What was that, Professor?" she asked.

"I'm not sure," the professor said, then began to dig in her pockets. She pulled out a device, and her eyes widened.

"Professor?" Bianca said.

"This is really abnormal," the professor said. She began to dig in her pockets again. "Bianca, let me borrow your Xtransceiver. I can't find my phone."

"Okay," Bianca said, quickly pulling off the device and handing it to her. Then Bianca listened carefully. Professor Juniper was calling the emergency line, asking to be forwarded to the mayor. Apparently the mayor of Icirrus City, Bianca got from listening. Just what was going on?

Bianca looked over at the final stairs to the top. There look to be flickering light from there. Well, Dragonspiral Tower wasn't the kind of tower to light on fire, being made completely of stone, was it? But Bianca thought it was definitely a fire up there, so something might be burning.

The professor was too busy to ask, so Bianca just began to ascend to the top herself. She'd just be able to put her head up and peek. The top was open to the sky, so maybe it was some kind of light phenomenon from the sunrise. She hadn't seen anything strange before looking through the other windows, though.

Bianca heard shouting as she got closer to the top. She got scared, and threw out two pokeballs. "Pignite! Musharna!" she addressed them as they appeared.

"Pignite?"

"Musha?"

Both pokemon looked to her for directions. Bianca looked at them seriously. "There's something going on. I need you both on alert to help," she explained. Her pokemon nodded seriously. Bianca let them lead the way, though she followed close behind, able to see between the two.

As she got to the top, Bianca gasped. The room was covered in flames. As they cleared up, Bianca saw the large white pokemon. This had to have been what Iris had seen, she thought. Bianca had no doubt that it was Reshiram herself. The pokemon roared, and Bianca supposed she really ought to run before it attacked.

"Pikachu!" another pokemon shouted. Bianca looked down at it, and it pointed over at the person on the ground. A human and two pokemon were strewn around the ground, defenseless. Reshiram's eyes began to glow, and it tensed up again, seemingly preparing for another attack.

"Wait!" Bianca shouted. She ran forward, her pokemon following her. Bianca looked at the crumpled form of the person, an adult man, and the two pokemon, both of species she didn't really recognize. She couldn't drag them out and away alone as quickly as needed, even if her pokemon helped. "Please," Bianca begged. "Calm down, Reshiram."

Reshiram did back down, getting out of its fighting stance. Bianca breathed in relief, then jumped in surprise as Reshiram spoke to her. "I only meant to defend myself."

"B-But that's enough, isn't it?" Bianca said. "They don't look like they're ready to battle you."

"So, you'd defend this person? I recognize you from his heart. He's a despicable person who's hurt you and others for his own gain with no remorse."

Bianca was confused. She hadn't recognized the person at all. But looking closer, she realized she did. He was part of the gang that had stolen her pokemon. He was in such a state that he was no threat at all, not to her, and certainly not to Reshiram. "It's alright," Bianca said. "I guess you've defeated him," she said, giving a reassuring smile to that scary, powerful pokemon.

Reshiram looked away, giving a sound of its own. Bianca thought it might even be amused with her observation. "I suppose you're correct."

Bianca nodded. She then turned to Reshiram again. "Excuse me, Reshiram? Are you really Reshiram?"

"I am," Reshiram confirmed.

"But wouldn't you be really ancient then?" Bianca asked.

"From your perspective, that could be true."

"Oh," Bianca said. "You've been gone for a long time. Where did you go?"

"I've always been here," Reshiram said.

Bianca was puzzled even more. "You were just hiding?" she said.

"My concentrated presence is necessary more than ever at this point in history to protect this region," Reshiram explained.

"I see. Thanks for you help, Reshiram," Bianca said. She met Reshiram's eyes, then felt various memories pulled to consciousness. She couldn't really take the time to remember any of them before they were taken away. Bianca blinked with confusion. Several things floated in her mind as she came back to the present. Her pokemon especially concerned her.

Bianca looked to Pignite and Musharna, who still observed her for her instruction. They were concerned, but still followed her this far. They'd likely defend her against this extremely powerful pokemon, at their own peril. Her pokemon worked so hard, even for someone like herself. She was such a burden to everyone, including them, wasn't she?

But now wasn't the time to think about something like that, even though it was something that was on her mind constantly. Bianca turned back to Reshiram, giving the pokemon her full attention. "I'm sorry, I-"

"I've looked into your heart," Reshiram informed. Bianca didn't respond, so it continued. "Your heart does seem strong, and I wonder if you're really a person with the courage to seek the truth."

"What do you mean, Reshiram?" Bianca asked.

"The truth! It's something that firmly exists. So many wander around the world without ever finding the truth. Those who seek it, face, and embrace it have the firmest hold on this world. Are you one of those people, Bianca?"

Bianca had to think about that. The truth. Whatever was true was something she wanted to know, though it was fairly illusive at times. Still, she'd faced the truth a lot on her journey. She'd realized she wasn't the best trainer from the start, and had it confirmed over and over. That had been painful. But she wasn't as talented as people like Iris, Hilda, and Cheren. That an unpleasant fact.

But even though it hurt sometimes, she'd still wanted to know the truth. Only then could she discover what she really could do, and what her life could really be like. "I think I am," Bianca answered Reshiram casually.

"You can accept the truth, even knowing you're a burden?"

Bianca was surprised to hear the pokemon say that. She'd had the fear that she was a burden quite often before. She'd been thinking she was only a moment ago. But hearing someone say it aloud to her somehow put it in perspective. Even if it hadn't been a legendary pokemon saying so, having it brought to the surface rather than be a fear in the back of her mind allowed her to realize just how wrong it was. "I'm not a burden," Bianca said calmly, looking directly at Reshiram.

"How can you deny your inability to depend on yourself?"

"I wouldn't deny that," Bianca said. "But there are a lot of people like me. Lots of trainers need to ask for help. A lot of them never become powerful enough to just go on their own right away, or even ever."

"So, they all need to burden others."

"No!" Bianca insisted. "It's true I was thinking I might be... But that was just a selfish of me." Bianca paused. Yes, what would her friends think if she sat around talking about what a burden she was? They'd just tell her to stop. "It's not a burden to accept help your friends want to give you. I can't thank them by calling myself a burden. I can only do that by helping others myself when I can."

"Is it the truth that you're even capable of that?"

Bianca nodded. She'd helped others in her own way along her journey. There had been little things, such as helping people find their way, or allowing kids to play with her pokemon once they'd been properly trained. She'd also helped out in big ways. Professor Juniper had honestly thanked her profusely for her help. The professor had even said she might need to hire someone as an assistant to replace Bianca's help. She wasn't someone who just sat aside while others did things for her, she supported her pokemon the same as they supported her. It wasn't fair to her friends or her pokemon just to decide she was a burden.

"I am," Bianca affirmed. "I'm not a burden just by not being the very best. I can depend on others, and they can depend on me when they need it. Just like my pokemon work their hardest for me, I just need to do my best to them and others."

Reshiram was silent again. Bianca felt the same disorienting sensation ad before, and various memories swished around in her head. "So then Bianca, would you help me?"

Bianca was surprised, and it took a moment before she realized it was something that Reshiram had actually asked her. "I would," Bianca said, though she furrowed her brow, unable to think of how she might help the incredibly powerful pokemon.

"Good," Reshiram said. "My hero no longer exists. So I require the assistance of another."

"I'm not like a hero or anything," Bianca said sheepishly. "I'd help you how I can, though."

"You can become my hero. Long ago, the word used for humans that pokemon chose to follow was hero. These days, 'trainer' might be used."

Bianca nodded, starting to understand what Reshiram was asking her.

"It doesn't mean exactly the same. My hero will take on different responsibilities."

"I understand," Bianca said. "But being your hero will allow me to do a lot more to help myself and others, won't it?"

"Yes. In order to protect Unova, I'll require a hero with a heart like your's," Reshiram said.

Bianca went into her bag. She had an empty pokeball. Pulling it out, she looked at Reshiram hesitantly. It nodded at her. Bianca threw the pokeball toward the legendary pokemon, and as it opened up, Reshiram was brought inside. The pokeball shook a moment before going completely still.

Bianca leaned down and picked it up. She looked up and took a deep breath. All of the tension in the atmosphere seemed to have disappeared. A cool breeze blew in through the columns. Bianca fells to her knees in relief. Pignite and Musharna both came over to her. "It's okay," Bianca assured. "It'll be good to have Reshiram as our ally, won't it?"

"Pignite!"

"Musha!"

Bianca smiled and gave them both a hug in turn. She wasn't sure about everything that had just happened, but allowed herself to feel some relief for the moment. She looked at her pokemon, then at her pokemon, patting them on the head to continue to reassure them.

"Bianca!" Bianca put her head up as she heard the professor calling. "Bianca!" the professor repeated as she came into view and met eyes with Bianca. "You really shouldn't have come up on your own. Are you alright?"

"Yes, professor," Bianca confirmed.

"That's good. What happened?" Professor Juniper asked. She looked around at the scenery, seeing nothing out of place other than the fainted human and pokemon nearby. "Something did happen, right? I'd hate to think that I called everyone in a panic for nothing."

"Yes," Bianca said.

"Oh, good. From my readings, I know what I'd like to think went on. But go on! Tell me everything!"

Bianca nodded and began the story. She wasn't going to spare the inquisitive professor a detail.

* * *

Bianca finally managed to breathe much later in the day. Professor Juniper and others who had come to question her were talking among themselves. She'd barely had time to take this all in herself before everyone began asking to see Reshiram and for her to take it out. Bianca politely refused in the commotion, though she was sure she'd show the professor later.

"Bianca! Bianca!" Iris called. As she saw Bianca, she ran up to her happily. Bianca reached out her arms to give Iris a hug, but Iris stopped herself just in time. Bianca also pulled away, realizing why. She and Iris didn't have that kind of loving relationship anymore. She'd chosen to end it, so things weren't exactly the same as when she could just open hug Iris like that. This was also part of the truth that she had to deal with.

But though more distant, Iris still smiled at her. "Drayden told me! Is it true? You have Reshiram?" Iris asked.

"Yes," Bianca said.

"So, you're Reshiram's new hero?" Iris asked.

"Reshiram called me it," Bianca said. "So I guess it's true, isn't it?" She looked at Iris, who seemed to get excited, but looked away, her smile falling. "Well, I really don't want to make that big a deal of it. I guess Reshiram just needed anyone to help it."

"No!" Iris insisted. She frowned, but then looked up again, putting on a forced smile. "Bianca, I know why you dumped me. I still love you, and you still love me too, right?"

"Well," Bianca began, then paused, looking away. "Yes, I do. You're an amazing person, Iris."

"And you are too, Bianca. Don't think anything else. I know Reshiram picked you because you'd be an awesome hero. You're way more brave than me, and lots of other people."

Bianca sighed. She leaned toward Iris. Iris leaned toward her as well, hugging her. After a while, Bianca let go, then put her arm around Iris. "Thanks," the new hero said.

"Yeah. So what are you going to do now, Bianca?" Iris asked.

"I'm not sure," Bianca said, pausing to consider it. "There's a lot I can do now, isn't there?" Bianca thought of how much easier it would be to travel with a powerful pokemon like Reshiram. And also, she would be able to help Professor Juniper and other researchers find out a lot about the pokemon. Thinking about what she wanted to do, with all she could do, that was a little overwhelming.

So she didn't think about it any more. Spending even a little time with Iris might be fun. "Do you want to be the first to see Reshiram?" she asked.

"Yeah! You bet!" Iris exclaimed happily. Both girls stood up. The researchers didn't notice as they ran away from the tower and toward the open field. Bianca threw out the pokeball, and Reshiram flew out into the air. Iris gasped and shouted happily as she saw it. The pokemon flew up into the air, and then swooped down.

Iris looked at Bianca, who smiled back at her. Her smile was as clear and bright as Reshiram's presence in front of them. Even though Zekrom had told her that Reshiram and its fight for truth were detestable, Iris didn't really believe that. It was impossible to, with Bianca, one of the most pleasant people she knew, standing there as Reshiram's chosen hero.

Bianca had been able to face the pokemon, which was kind of scary, even Iris had to admit, and survive calmly like this. She made it seem like the truth wasn't all that insurmountable. Iris tried to stand up as tall next to Bianca as they faced Reshiram. One day, the young gym leader hoped her heart would carry the truth just as capably.


End file.
